[Music]
How lost was my condition,
Till Jesus made me whole;
There is but one Physician
Can cure a sin-sick soul.
Next door to death he found me,
And snatch'd me from the grave,
To tell to all around me,
His wondrous pow'r to save.
The worst of all diseases
Is light compared with sin;
On every part it seizes,
But rages most within.
'Tis palsy, plague, and fever,
And madness, all combin'd;
And none but a believer
The least relief can find.
From men great skill professing,
I thought a cure to gain;
But this proved more distressing
And added to my pain.
Some said that nothing ail'd me.
Some gave me up for lost;
Thus every refuge fail'd me,
And all my hopes were cross'd.
At length this great Physician
(How matchless is his grace!)
Accepted my petition
And undertook my case.
First gave me sight to view him,
For sin my eyes had seal'd;
Then bid me look unto him,
I look'd, and I was heal'd.
A dying, risen Jesus,
Seen by the eye of faith,
At once from anguish frees us
And saves the soul from death.
Come, then, to this Physician,
His help he'll freely give;
He makes no hard condition,
'Tis only--look and live.
This tune is found also in GOS, No. 227. A remake is in OSH 176. It is
'Banks of Sweet Dundee', Sharp i., 399. Related also to 'Pinery Boy',
Shoemaker, 262; and 'Virginian Lover', Sharp, ii., 150. The negro song
'Sin-Sick Soul', SS, No. 66, is based textually and melodically on the
above song.
No. 32
LOOK OUT or WHEN I WAS YOUNG, OSH 90