The Cyber Hymnal ‎#3071

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