Law and Gospel Distinguished

The Law Commands and Makes Us Know
Isaac Watts, 1674-1748

The law commands, and makes us know
What duties to our God we owe;
But 'tis the gospel must reveal
Where lies our strength to do His will.

The law discovers guilt and sin,
And shows how vile our hearts have been;
Only the gospel can express
Forgiving love and cleansing grace.

What curses does the law denounce
Against the man that fails but once!
But in the gospel Christ appears,
Pard'ning the guilt of num'rous years.

My soul, no more attempt to draw
Thy life and comfort from the law;
Fly to the hope the gospel gives;
The man that trusts the promise lives.

The Terms Are Fixed - Believe, Or Die

With Conscious Fear and Humble Awe
Samuel Davies, 1723-1761

With conscious fear and humble awe,
I view the terrors of the law;
Condemned at that tremendous bar,
I shrink, I tremble, and despair.

But hark, salvation in my ears,
Sounds sweetly and dispels my fears;
Jesus appears, and by His cross,
Fulfills His Father's broken laws.

Jesus, Savior! dearest name!
By Him alone salvation came;
Terror, destruction and despair,
Where e'er I look besides, appear.

Adam, my head and father fell,
And sunk his offspring down to hell;
And the dread sword of justice waits,
To guard me from the heavenly gates.

Unnumbered crimes of dreadful names
Call loud for everlasting flames;
And all the duties I have done,
Can neither merit, nor atone.

Yet weak and guilty as I am,
I fix my trust on Jesus' name.
Jesus, whose righteousness alone
Can for the deepest crimes atone.

On Him, my soul, on Him rely;
The terms are fixed - believe, or die.
Thee let the glorious gospel draw,
Or perish by the fiery law.