The law of the Lord is perfect and good

Representative Text

1 The law of the Lord is perfect and good,
But cannot afford nor comfort nor food,
To sinners distressèd, o’erwhelmèd with fear,
But Jesus the blessed can yield them good cheer.

2 The sinner may toil with care and with pain,
Some comfort to bring from Sinai’s flame,
Spend long nights in sorrow, and days in distress,
Yet find on the morrow the law does him curse.

3 Where then can he flee for help or relief?
A sinner is he, a rebel in chief;
He feels himself guilty, and what can he do?
He’s unsound and filthy, and no good can show.

4 Thanks be to the Lamb, the great King of kings,
Who comes just in time, and glad tidings brings,
Applies peace and pardon, with power from above,
The poor soul to gladden, and calls him his love.

5 [These tidings Christ brings, and they reach the heart;
The Spirit he sends his truth to impart;
The sweet Spirit seals him a son and an heir,
And comforts and cheers him, and banishes fear.]

6 Then ravished with joy, and o’ercome with love,
“Abba, Father,” he’ll cry, “my Lord and my God,
My Friend and my Portion, my Head and my All;
Thou art my Salvation from guilt, sin, and thrall.”

Source: A Selection of Hymns for Public Worship. In four parts (10th ed.) (Gadsby's Hymns) #520

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Author: William Gadsby

Gadsby, William , was born in 1773 at Attleborough, in Warwickshire. In 1793 he joined the Baptist church at Coventry, and in 1798 began to preach. In 1800 a chapel was built for him at Desford, in Leicestershire, and two years later another in the town of Hinckley. In 1805 he removed to Manchester, becoming minister of a chapel in Rochdale Boad, where he continued until his death, in January, 1844. Gadsby was for many years exceedingly popular as a preacher of the High Calvinist faith, and visited in that capacity most parts of England. He published The Nazarene's Songs, being a composition of Original Hymns, Manchester, 1814; and Hymns on the Death of the Princess Charlotte, Manchester, 1817. In 1814 he also published A Selection of Hymn… Go to person page >

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