1 Vain are the hopes the sons of men
On their own works have built;
Their hearts by nature all unclean,
And all their actions guilt.
2 Let Jew and Gentile stop their mouths
Without a murmuring word,
And the whole race of Adam stand
Guilty before the Lord.
3 In vain we ask God's righteous law
To justify us now,
Since to convince and to condemn
Is all the law can do.
4 Jesus, how glorious is thy grace,
When in thy name we trust,
Our faith receives a righteousness
That makes the sinner just.
Hymn 1:95.
Regeneration, John 1. 13. and 3. 3 &c.
1 Not all the outward forms on earth,
Nor rites that God has given,
Nor will of man, nor blood, nor birth,
Can raise a soul to heaven.
2 The sovereign will of God alone
Creates us heirs of grace;
Born in the image of his Son,
A new peculiar race.
3 The Spirit like some heavenly wind
Blows on the sons of flesh,
New models all the carnal mind,
And forms the man afresh.
4 Our quicken'd souls awake, and rise
From the long sleep of death;
On heavenly things we fix our eyes,
And praise employs our breath.
Hymn 1:96.
Election excludes boasting, 1 Cor. 1. 26-31.