“Alas! By Nature” surveys man’s sinful condition and God’s activity in redemption and adoption. John Newton, who wrote the words to “Amazing Grace,” also authored this text. Because Newton was both a slave and a slave-owner at separate points in his life, his application of the meta-phor of slavery to man’s fallen condition is particularly enlightening. Newton describes human beings as inherently enslaved to sin and thus worthy of God’s just condemnation. Nonetheless, God delivers sinful man from his bondage and adopts him into His household.
lyrics
Alas! By nature how depraved,
How prone to every ill!
Our lives, to Satan, how enslaved,
How obstinate our will!
And can such sinners be restored?
Such rebels reconciled?
Can grace itself the means afford
To make a foe a child?
Yes, grace has found the wondrous means
Which shall effectual prove;
To cleanse us from our countless sins,
And teach our hearts to love.
Jesus for sinners undertakes,
And died that we may live;
His blood a full atonement makes,
And cries aloud, “Forgive.”
Yet one thing more must grace provide,
To bring us home to God;
Or we shall slight the Lord, who died,
And trample on His blood.
The Holy Spirit must reveal
The Savior’s work and worth;
Then the hard heart begins to feel
A new and heav’nly birth.
Thus bought with blood, and born again,
Redeemed, and saved by grace,
Rebels in God’s own house obtain
A son’s and daughter’s place.
credits
from Slave Songs,
released November 12, 2012
Words by John Newton
Music by Cody Curtis
Produced and engineered by Cody Curtis
Cody Curtis – lead vocals, piano, electronics
Melody Curtis – background vocals
Paul Jones – spoken vocals
supported by 8 fans who also own “Alas! By Nature”
Some new and non traditional...beautiful renditions of the Nativity Story put to song...."A Light".."that all the darkness could never and will never overcome! Amen." Sharon Wood
supported by 7 fans who also own “Alas! By Nature”
This is a great collection of settings for the Psalms. It's diverse in it's music as well as in the poetry. Some has a Reformation/Puritan feel, others are much more modern retellings. Garrett Lee