3071. Is This the Kind Return?

1. Is this the kind return,
And these the thanks we owe,
Thus to abuse eternal love,
Whence all our blessings flow?

2. To what a stubborn frame
Has sin reduced our mind!
What strange rebellious wretches we,
And God as strangely kind!

3. On us He bids the sun
Shed his reviving rays;
For us the skies their circles run,
To lengthen out our days.

4. The brutes obey their God,
And bow their necks to men;
But we, more base, more brutish things,
Reject His easy reign.

5. Turn, turn us, mighty God,
And mold our souls afresh;
Break, sov’reign grace, these hearts of stone,
And give us hearts of flesh.

6. Let old ingratitude
Provoke our weeping eyes,
And hourly as new mercies fall
Let hourly thanks arise.

Text Information
First Line: Is this the kind return
Title: Is This the Kind Return?
Author: Isaac Watts (1707-9)
Meter: SM
Language: English
Source: Hymns and Spiritual Songs, 1707-9, Book II, number 74
Copyright: Public Domain
Tune Information
Name: GOLDEN HILL
Meter: SM
Incipit: 13216 12156 56165
Key: E♭ Major
Source: Kentucky Harmony, by Ananias Davisson, 1816
Copyright: Public Domain



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