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THE LAW COMMANDS AND MAKES US KNOW

Scripture Verse

The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:2

Introduction

portrait
Isaac Watts (1674–1748)

Words: Is­aac Watts, Hymns and Spir­it­ual Songs, Book 2, 1709. The law and Gos­pel dis­tin­guished.

Music: Old 100th at­trib­ut­ed to Lou­is Bour­geois, in Four Score and Se­ven Psalms of Da­vid (Ge­ne­va, Swit­zer­land: 1551) (🔊 ).

Alternate Tune:

If you know where to get a good pic­ture of Bour­geois (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els), would you send us an e-mail?

Lyrics

The Law com­mands and makes us know
What du­ties to our God we owe;
But ’tis the Gos­pel must re­veal
Where lies our strength to do His will.

The Law dis­co­vers guilt and sin
And shows how vile our hearts have been;
The Gos­pel on­ly can ex­press
Forgiving love and cleans­ing grace.

What curs­es doth the Law de­nounce
Against the man that fails but once!
But in the Gos­pel Christ ap­pears,
Pardoning the guilt of nu­mer­ous years.

My soul, no more at­tempt to draw
Thy life and com­fort from the Law.
Fly to the hope the Gos­pel gives;
The man that trusts the pro­mise lives.