Christian Classics
‹ Olney Hymns

John Newton & William Cowper · 171 of 356

29. Alas! by nature how depraved

Hymn 29

Alas! by nature how , How prone to every ill! Our lives, to Satan, how enslaved, How obstinate our will!

And can such sinners be restored, Such rebels ? Can itself the means afford To make a foe a child?

Yes, has found the wondrous means Which shall effectual prove; To cleanse us from our countless sins, And teach our hearts to love.

Jesus for sinners undertakes, And died that we may live; His blood a full makes, And cries aloud, “Forgive.”

Yet one thing more must provide, To bring us home to God; Or we shall slight the LORD, who died, And trample on his blood.

The holy Spirit must reveal The Savior’s work and worth; Then the hard heart begins to feel A new and heavenly birth.

Thus bought with blood, and born again, , and saved, by Rebels, in God’s own house obtain A son’s and daughter’s place.