The Cyber Hymnal ‎#5825

5825. Rites Cannot Change the Heart

1. Rites cannot change the heart,
Undo the evil done,
Or with the uttered name impart
The nature of Thy Son.

2. To meet our desperate want,
There gushed a crimson flood;
O from His heart’s o’erflowing font
Baptize this soul with blood!

3. Be grace from Christ our Lord,
And love from God supreme,
By the communing Spirit poured
In a perpetual stream!

Text Information

• First Line: Rites cannot change the heart
• Title: Rites Cannot Change the Heart
• Author: William M. Bunting (1842)
• Meter: SM
• Language: English
• Source: Leifchild's Original Hymns, 1842, titled "Father, Our Child We Place" The version below, starting at stanza four of the original, appeared in the American Methodist Episcopal Hymnal, 1878
• Copyright: Public Domain

Tune Information

• Name: DENNIS
• Composer: Johann G. Nägeli, 1773-1836
• Arranger: Low­ell Ma­son (1845)
• Meter: SM
• Incipit: 33132 72116 11517
• Key: F Major
• Source: Ar­ranged in The Psalt­ery, 1845
• Copyright: Public Domain