180}

PSALM 51. 1st Part. C. M. b
Bedford, St. Anns.

Original and actual sin confessed and pardoned.
1 LORD, I would spread my sore distress
And guilt before thine eyes;
Against thy laws, against thy grace,
How high my crimes arise!

2 Shouldst thou condemn my soul to hell, And crush my flesh to dust, Heav'n would approve thy vengeance well, And earth must own it just. 3 I from the stock of Adam came, Unholy and unclean;

All my original is shame,

And all my nature sin.

4 Born in a world of guilt, I drew
Contagion with my breath;

And, as my days advanc'd, I grew
A juster prey for death.

5. Cleanse me, O Lord, and cheer my soul With thy forgiving love;

O make my broken spirit whole,
And bid my pains remove.

6 Let not thy Spirit quite depart,
Nor drive me from thy face;
Create anew my vicious heart,
And fill it with thy grace.

7 Then will I make thy mercy known
Before the sons of men;

Backsliders shall address thy throne,
And turn to God again.

181}

HYMN 128. B. 2. C. M.

Plymouth, York.

Corrupt nature from Adam.

1 BLEST with the joys of innocence,

Adam, our father, stood,...

b

Till he debas'd his soul to sense,
And ate th' unlawful food.

2 Now we are born a sensual race,
To sinful joys inclin'd;
Reason has lost its native place,
And flesh enslaves the mind.

3 While flesh, and sense, and passion reigns, Sin is the sweetest good;

We fancy music in our chains,

And so forget the load.

4 Great God! renew our ruin'd frame,
Our broken powers restore :
Inspire us with a heavenly flame,
And flesh shall reign no more!

5 Eternal Spirit, write thy law
Upon our inward parts,

And let the second Adam draw
His image on our hearts.

182}

PSALM 14. 1st Part. C. M.
Canterbury, Barby.

By nature all men are sinners.

b

1 FOOLS in their hearts believe and say, "That all religion's vain;

"There is no God that reigns on high, "Or minds th' affairs of men."

2 From thoughts so dreadful and profane Corrupt discourse proceeds:

And in their impious hands are found Abominable deeds.

3 The Lord, from his celestial throne, Looks down on things below,

To find the man that sought his grace, Or did his justice know.

4 By nature all are gone astray;

Their practice all the same;

There's none that fears his Maker's hand,

There's none that loves his name.

5 Their tongues are us'd to speak deceit; Their slanders never cease;

How swift to mischief are their feet!
Nor know the paths of peace.
6 Such seeds of sin (that bitter root)
In every heart are found;

Nor can they bear diviner fruit,
Till grace refine the ground.

183

HYMN 160. B. 2. L. M.
Magdalen, Putney.

Custom in sin.

b

1 LET the wild leopards of the wood Put off the spots that nature gives; Then may the wicked turn to God, And change their tempers and their lives. 2 As well might Ethiopian slaves

Wash out the darkness of their skin; The dead as well may leave their graves, As old transgressors cease to sin.

3 Where vice has held its empire long, "Twill not endure the least control; None but a power divinely strong Can turn the current of the soul. 4 Great God! I own thy power divine, That works to change this heart of mine; I would be form'd anew, and bless The wonders of creating grace.

184}

HYMN 24. B. 2. L. M.

Gloucester, 97th Psalm.

The evil of sin visible in the fall of angels and men. 1 WHEN the great Builder arch'd the skies, And form'd all nature with a word; The joyful cherubs tun'd his praise, And every bending throne ador'd.

2 High in the midst of all the throng, Satan, a tall arch-angel, sat;

Among the morning stars he sung,
Till sin destroy'd his heavenly state.
3 ['Twas sin that hurl'd him from his throne,
Grov❜ling in fire, the rebel lies;

How art thou sunk in darkness down,
Son of the morning, from the skies.]
4 And thus our two first parents stood,
Till sin defil'd the happy place:

They lost their garden and their God,
And ruin'd all their unborn race.

5 [So sprung the plague from Adam's bow'r,
And spread destruction all abroad;
Sin, the curs'd name, that in one hour
Spoil'd six days' labour of a God.]

6 Tremble, my soul, and mourn for grief, That such a foe should sieze thy breast; Fly to thy Lord for quick relief;

O! may he slay this treach'rous guest. 7 Then to thy throne, victorious King, Then to thy throne our shouts shall rise; Thine everlasting arm we sing,

For sin, the monster, bleeds and dies.

185}

HYMN 150. B. 2. C. M.
Wantage, Chelsea.

The deceitfulness of sin.

1 SIN has a thousand treach'rous arts

To practise on the mind;

b

With flatt'ring looks she tempts our hearts,

But leaves a sting behind.

2 With names of virtue she deceives

The aged and the young;

And, while the heedless wretch believes, She makes his fetters strong.

3 She pleads for all the joys she brings,
And gives a fair pretence;

But cheats the soul of heav'nly things,
And chains it down to sense.

4 So on a tree divinely fair

Grew the forbidden food;

Our mother took the poison there,
And tainted all her blood.

186}

HYMN 153. B. 2. C. M.
Bangor, Carolina.

The distemper, folly, and madness of sin.

1 SIN, like a venomous disease,
Infects our vital blood;

The only balm is sov'reign grace,
And the physician, God.

2 Our beauty and our strength are fled,
And we draw near to death,
But Christ the Lord recalls the dead
With his Almighty breath.

3 Madness, by nature, reigns within,
The passions burn and rage,

Till God's own Son, with skill divine,
The inward fire assuage.

4 [We lick the dust, we grasp the wind,
And solid good despise :

Such is the folly of the mind,

Till Jesus makes us wise.]

b

5 [We give our souls the wounds they feel, We drink the pois'nous gall,

And rush with fury down to hell;
But Heaven prevents the fall.]

6 [The man possess'd among the tombs,
Cuts his own flesh and cries:

He foams and raves till Jesus comes,
And the foul spirit flies.]