1 Backward with humble shame we look,
On our original;
How is our nature dash'd and broke
In our first father's fall!
2 To all that's good, averse and blind,
But prone to all that's ill;
What dreadful darkness veils our mind!
How obstinate our will!
3 How strong in our degenerate blood,
The old corruption reigns,
And, mingling with the crooked flood,
Wanders through all our veins!
4 Wild and unwholesome as the root
Will all the branches be;
How can we hope for living fruit
From such a deadly tree?
5 What mortal power from things unclean,
Can pure productions bring?
Who can command a vital stream
From an infected spring?
6 Yet, mighty God, thy wondrous love
Can make our nature clean,
While Christ and grace prevail above
The tempter, death, and sin.
7 The second Adam shall restore
The ruins of the first,
Hosanna to that sovereign power
That new-creates our dust!
Source: A Collection of Hymns and Prayers, for Public and Private Worship #55
First Line: | Backward with humble shame we look |
Author: | Isaac Watts |
Meter: | 8.6.8.6 |
Language: | English |
Copyright: | Public Domain |
Backward with humble shame we look. I. Watts. [The Fall and the Redemption.] First published in his Hymns and Spiritual Songs, 1707, Bk. i., No. 57, in 8 stanzas of 4 1ines, and again in later editions of the same. Its use, and that in an abbreviated form, is very limited.
-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)