Hymnal: The Christian Hymn-Book
Date: 1815
Compiler: John Thompson et al
Publisher/Printer: Looker and Wallace
First Line: Is this the kind return
Topic: The Goodness of God
Writer: <no first name given> <no last name given>
Composer:
Meter: SM
Tune:
Hymn Number: 172
Page Number: 155, click to see hymnal pages
LyicsIs this the kind return,
And these the thanks we owe!
Thus to abuse eternal love,
Whence all our blessings flow?
To what a stubborn frame
Has sin reduc'd our mind!
What strange rebellious wretches we,
And God as strangely kind!
On us he bids the sun
Shed his reviving rays;
For us the skies their circles run,
To lengthen out our days.
The brutes obey their God,
And bow their necks to men;
But we more base, more brutish things,
Reject his easy reign.
Turn, turn us, mighty God,
And mould our souls afresh;
Break sov'reign grace, these hearts of stone,
And give us hearts of flesh
Let past ingratitude
Provoke our weeping eyes;
And hourly, as new mercies fall
Let hourly thanks arise.