350CM
*Bethesda’s Pool, John 5:2
HERE at the Gospel pool,* the poor,
   The withered, lame and blind,
With waiting hearts expect a cure,
    And free admission find.
 
2  Here streams of sovereign mercy flow,
    To heal the sin-sick soul,
To wash the guilty white as snow,
    And make the wounded whole.
 
3  The dumb break forth with songs of praise,
    The blind their sight receive,
The cripple walks in wisdom’s ways,
    The dead revive, and live!
 
4  Yet numbers oft-times here apply
    Who meet with no relief;
Though help is here, they pine and die
    In hopeless unbelief.
 
5  Why should such souls refuse to bathe,
    And yet attend the pool?
But none can ever find the faith
    While love of sin bears rule.
 
6  Dear Saviour, come and interpose,
    Our stubborn wills constrain,
Or else for us the water flows
    And grace is preached in vain.
 
John Newton, 1725-1807