A hymn by Benjamin Wallin (1711-1782)

Ephesians 2:1 reads, “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.” Inspired by the grace of the Spirit’s quickening work in the lives of God’s people, Benjamin Wallin, an 18th-century Particular Baptist, wrote this hymn in which he captures the Christian’s transition from spiritual deadness to new life.

Let us to God our voices raise;
His love and mercy shewn
Constrain our souls to sing his praise,
And make his glory known.

Once wrapt in sin without all sense
Of danger or of shame,
We slept secure; nor dream’d we whence
The deadly mis’ry came.

A fatal darkness quite o’erspread
Our vain and foolish mind;
We blindly went as Satan led,
To all his lusts inclin’d

Forlorn and helpless this we lay,
Still waxing worse and worse,
‘Till mercy at th’ appointed day
Remov’d the heavy curse.

Risen with Christ, to God we live,
To sin we daily die;
Waiting and longing to receive
Our immortality.

Follow-up Scripture Readings:

Stanza 1. Ephesians 1:3-5

Stanza 2. Luke 11:21; Ephesians 4:18

Stanza 3. Ephesians 5:8; 2:2; John 8:44

Stanza 4. Jeremiah 13:23; Romans 2:5

Stanza 5. Romans 6:22; Colossians 3:1; Philippians 3:20