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Repentance and Free Pardon

Representative Text

1 Blest is the man, forever blest,
Whose guilt is pardoned by his God,
Whose sins with sorrow are confessed
And covered with his Savior's blood.

2 Blest is the man to whom the Lord
Imputes not his iniquities;
He pleads no merit of reward
And not on works but grace relies.

3 From guile his heart and lips are free;
His humble joy, his holy fear,
With deep repentance well agree
And join to prove his faith sincere.

4 How glorious is that righteousness
That hides and cancels all his sins,
While bright the evidence of grace
Thro' all his life appears and shines!



Source: Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary #416

Author: Isaac Watts

Isaac Watts was the son of a schoolmaster, and was born in Southampton, July 17, 1674. He is said to have shown remarkable precocity in childhood, beginning the study of Latin, in his fourth year, and writing respectable verses at the age of seven. At the age of sixteen, he went to London to study in the Academy of the Rev. Thomas Rowe, an Independent minister. In 1698, he became assistant minister of the Independent Church, Berry St., London. In 1702, he became pastor. In 1712, he accepted an invitation to visit Sir Thomas Abney, at his residence of Abney Park, and at Sir Thomas' pressing request, made it his home for the remainder of his life. It was a residence most favourable for his health, and for the prosecution of his literary… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Blest is the man, for ever blest
Title: Repentance and Free Pardon
Author: Isaac Watts
Meter: 8.8.8.8
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Notes

Blest is the man, for ever bless'd. I. Watts. [Ps. xxxii.] His L.M. rendering of Ps. xxxii., published in his Psalms of David, &c, 1719, in 4 stanzas of 4 lines. Dr. Watts's note thereupon explains the liberty taken with the Psalm as follows:—

"These two first verses of this Psalm being cited by the Apostle in the 4th chapter of Romans, to shew the freedom of our pardon and justification by grace without works, I have, in this version of it, enlarged the sense, by mention of the Blood of Christ, and faith and Repentance; and because the Psalmist adds. A spirit in which is no guile, I have inserted that sincere obedience, which is scriptural evidence of our faith and justification."

As a hymn in common use in Great Britain it has almost died out; but in America it still survives in a few collections.

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Timeline

Media

The Cyber Hymnal #578
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Instances

Instances (1 - 3 of 3)
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Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary #416

Psalms of Grace #32a

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The Cyber Hymnal #578

Include 100 pre-1979 instances
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