Hymnal: The Christian Hymnal
Date: 1871
Compiler: Under direction of the Christian Hymn-Book Committee
Publisher/Printer: Bosworth Chase & Hall
First Line: God's law demands one living faith
Topic: The Holy Scriptures
Writer: <no first name given> <no last name given>
Composer:
Meter: LM
Tune: Ward
Hymn Number: 5
Page Number: 006, click to see hymnal pages
LyicsGod's law demands one living faith,
Not a gaunt crowd of lifeless creeds;
Its warrant is a firm "God saith;"
Its claim, not words, but living deeds.
Yet, Lord, forgive; thy simple law
Grows tarnished in our earthly grasp;
Pure in itself, without a flaw,
It dims in our too-worldly clasp.
We handle it with unwashed hands;
We stain it with unhallowed breath;
We gloss it with device of man's,
And hide thine image underneath.
Forgive the sacrilege, and take
From off our souls the unworthy stain;
And show us, for thy Son's dear sake,
Thy pure and perfect law again.