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Dead in Trespasses and Sins

Representative Text

1. How helpless guilty nature lies,
Unconscious of its load!
The heart unchanged can never rise
To happiness and God.

2. The will perverse, the passions blind,
In paths of ruin stray:
Reason debased can never find
The safe, the narrow way.

3. Can aught beneath a power divine
The stubborn will subdue?
’Tis thine, Eternal Spirit, thine
To form the heart anew.

4. ’Tis thine the passions to recall,
And upward bid them rise,
And make the scales of error fall
From reason’s darkened eyes.

5. To chase the shades of death away,
And bid the sinner live!
A beam of heaven, a vital ray
’Tis thine alone to give.

6. O change these wretched hearts of ours,
And give them life divine!
Then shall our passions and our powers,
Almighty Lord, be thine.

Source: Hymns and Devotions for Daily Worship #180b

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Author: Anne Steele

Anne Steele was the daughter of Particular Baptist preacher and timber merchant William Steele. She spent her entire life in Broughton, Hampshire, near the southern coast of England, and devoted much of her time to writing. Some accounts of her life portray her as a lonely, melancholy invalid, but a revival of research in the last decade indicates that she had been more active and social than what was previously thought. She was theologically conversant with Dissenting ministers and "found herself at the centre of a literary circle that included family members from various generations, as well as local literati." She chose a life of singleness to focus on her craft. Before Christmas in 1742, she declined a marriage proposal from contemporar… Go to person page >

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Text Information

First Line: How helpless guilty nature lies
Title: Dead in Trespasses and Sins
Author: Anne Steele
Meter: 6.6.8.6
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain
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Tune

BALERMA (Barthélemon)


MONSON


DENNIS (Nägeli)

Lowell Mason (PHH 96) arranged DENNIS and first published it in The Psaltery (1845), a hymnal he compiled with George. Webb (PHH 559). Mason attributed the tune to Johann G. Nageli (b. Wetzikon, near Zurich, Switzerland, 1773; d. Wetzikon, 1836) but included no source reference. Nageli presumably pu…

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All tunes published with 'Dead in Trespasses and Sins'^ top

Timeline

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Media

The Cyber Hymnal #2580
  • Adobe Acrobat image (PDF)
  • Noteworthy Composer score (NWC)
  • XML score (XML)
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Instances

Instances (1 - 4 of 4)

Ambassador Hymnal #427

Ambassador Hymnal #427
Text

Hymns and Devotions for Daily Worship #180b

Hymns and Devotions for Daily Worship #180b

The Baptist Hymnal #198

The Baptist Hymnal #198
TextScoreAudio

The Cyber Hymnal #2580

The Cyber Hymnal #2580
Include 227 pre-1979 instances
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