When Adam fell he quickly lost

The words

1. 1

   Stanza 1. When Adam fell he quickly lostGod’s image, which he once possessed:See All our nature since could boastIn Cain, his first–born Son, expressed!

2. 2

   Stanza 2. The sacrifice the Lord ordainedIn type of the Redeemer’s blood,Self–righteous reas’ning Cain disdained,And thought his own first–fruits as good.

3. 3

   Stanza 3. Yet rage and envy filled his mind,When, with a fallen, downcast look,He saw his brother favor find,Who GOD’s appointed method took.

4. 4

   Stanza 4. By Cain’s own hand, good Abel died,Because the Lord approved his faith;And, when his blood for vengeance cried,He vainly thought to hide his death.

5. 5

   Stanza 5. Such was the wicked murd’rer Cain,And such by nature still are we,Until by grace we’re born again,Malicious, blind and proud, as he.

6. 6

   Stanza 6. Like him the way of grace we slight,And in our own devices trust;Call evil good, and darkness light,And hate and persecute the just.

7. 7

   Stanza 7. The saints, in every age and place,Have found this history fulfilled;The numbers all our thoughts surpassOf Abels, whom the Cains have killed!

8. 8

   Stanza 8. Thus JESUS fell—but O! his bloodFar better things than Abel’s cries:Obtains his murd’rers peace with God,And gains them mansions in the skies.

Olney Hymns (1779), Book 1, Hymn 2. John Newton. Public domain. CCEL transcription with modernized spelling. www.praylock.com/olney-hymns/1-2