Scripture Verse

The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. Psalm 14:1

Introduction

portrait
Benjamin H. Kennedy (1804–1889)

Words: Ben­ja­min H. Ken­ne­dy, Hym­no­lo­gia Chris­ti­ana (Lon­don: Long­man, Green, Long­man, Ro­berts & Green, 1863), num­ber 4.

Music: Ab­er­deen pos­si­bly by An­drew Tait, in James Chal­mers’ un­ti­tled col­lect­ion, 1749. Me­lo­dy from Ru­di­ments of Mu­sic, by Ro­bert Brem­ner, 1756 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Lyrics

There is no God, so saith the fool
In his vain heart alone.
Ah, reck­less seed and spurn­ing rule!
None do­eth good, not one.

The Lord looked down from Hea­ven, and saw
How man on earth abode;
And none were there who loved His law,
None sought the liv­ing God.

With thoughts cor­rupt, and con­science seared,
In hate­ful ways they ran;
In all the world no good ap­peared,
Nor any right­eous man.

How blind­ed are their hearts, He said,
Who live in sin and shame!
My peo­ple they de­vour as bread;
They call not on My name.

In vain ye strive, O race ab­horred,
In vain ye fret and rage;
For God is with His saints, the Lord
Amidst His he­ri­tage.

O when will our re­demp­tion spring
From Zi­on’s ho­ly height?
O when to Sa­lem will her king
Return with heal­ing light?

When God shall hear His peo­ple’s voice,
And break their gall­ing chain,
The face of Ja­cob will re­joice,
And Is­ra­el smile again.