350		CM
	*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