Scripture Verse

The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. The Lord looked down from Heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. Psalm 14:1–2

Introduction

portrait
Thomas Campbell
(1777–1844)
Wikimedia Commons

Words: Har­ri­et Au­ber, Spir­it of the Psalms 1829, page 11.

Music: Sa­gi­na (Short) Tho­mas Camp­bell, Bou­quet 1825 (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
Harriet Auber (1773–1862)

Lyrics

That man whose im­pi­ous tongue de­nies
The God who ev­ery want sup­plies,
Or whose un­hal­lowed act­ions pro­ve
He feels nor gra­ti­tude nor love,
Ranks far be­neath the brute, who knows
What hand his hum­ble meal be­stows.

Yet, did not such hea­ven­ly grace abound,
Such would each son of man be found;
For when the Al­migh­ty from His throne
Looked on the earth, be­hold, not one
The nar­row path of virtue trod,
Or kept the pre­cepts of his God.

But He, who with a sin­gle breath
Could doom a guil­ty world to death,
With mer­cy’s gent­ly plead­ing voice,
Offers sal­va­tion to our choice;
Freedom from sin’s de­bas­ing chain,
And strength fresh con­flicts to sus­tain.

O haste we then—with joy em­brace
This rich, this free­ly of­fered grace;
Gladly our hearts and voic­es raise,
In loud and grate­ful songs of praise,
And to the list­en­ing world pro­claim
Our great Re­deem­er’s glo­ri­ous name.