Hymn
New Birth
Nor all the outward forms on earth,
Nor rites that God has given,
Nor will of man, nor blood, nor birth,
Can raise a soul to heaven.
The sovereign will of God alone
Creates us heirs of grace;
Born is the image of his Son,
A new, peculiar race.
The Spirit, like some heavenly wind,
Breathes on the sons of flesh,
New-models all the carnal mind,
And forms the man afresh.
Our quickened souls awake and rise
From the long sleep of death;
On heavenly things we fix our eyes,
And praise employs our breath.
New Birth — Text from Laudes Domini, 1890. Public domain. https://yeshuanow.com/hymns/new-birth
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Questions about this hymn
Who wrote New Birth?
The words of New Birth were written by Isaac Watts; the version here was published in 1890. The library holds 248 more hymns by Isaac Watts, including Instructions from Scripture and The Seasons of the Year.
Is New Birth public domain?
Yes. The words here are taken from Laudes Domini, published in 1890. Works published before 1931 are out of copyright in the United States, so you can print, project, perform and record this hymn freely. How we source and check every hymn.
What is the metre of New Birth?
New Birth is in Common Metre (8.6.8.6). Hymns in the same metre can usually be sung to the same tunes — for example, Eternal Spirit, God of Truth, On Opening a Place of Social Prayer and There Is an Eye that Never Sleeps.