Scripture Verse

No one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. John 3:5

Introduction

Words: Sam­son Oc­com, 1760. Ap­peared in the De­vo­tion­al Hymn and Tune Book, by Will­iam B. Brad­bu­ry (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Am­er­ican Bap­tist Pub­lish­ing So­ci­ety, 1864).

Music: Me­ri­bah Lo­well Ma­son, 1839 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tune:

portrait
Samson Occom (1723–1792)
National Portrait Gallery

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Lyrics

illustration
Revelation at Mount Sinai
Providence Lithograph Company, 1907
Wikipedia

Awaked by Si­nai’s aw­ful sound,
My soul in bonds of guilt I found,
And knew not where to go;
Eternal truth did loud pro­claim,
The sin­ner must be born again,
Or sink to end­less woe.

Amazed I stood, but could not tell
Which way to shun the gates of hell,
For death and hell drew near;
I strove, in­deed, but strove in vain;
The sin­ner must be born again
Still sound­ed in my ear.

When to the law I trem­bling fled,
It poured its curs­es on my head;
I no re­lief could find.
This fear­ful truth in­creased my pain;
The sin­ner must be born again
O’erwhelmed my tor­tured mind.

Again did Si­nai’s thun­ders roll,
And guilt lay hea­vy on my soul,
A vast op­press­ive load;
Alas, I read and saw it plain,
The sin­ner must be born again,
Or drink the wrath of God.

The saints I heard with rap­ture tell
How Je­sus con­quered death and hell,
And broke the fowl­er’s snare;
Yet when I found this truth re­main,
The sin­ner must be born again,
I sank in deep des­pair.

But while I thus in ang­uish lay,
The gra­cious Sav­ior passed this way,
And felt His pi­ty move;
The sin­ner, by His jus­tice slain,
Now by His grace is born again;
And sings re­deem­ing love.

To Hea­ven the joy­ful tid­ings flew,
The an­gels tuned their harps anew,
And lof­ti­er sounds did raise;
All hail the Lamb that once was slain,
Unnumbered mill­ions born again,
Shall shout Thy end­less praise.