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Backward with humble shame we look Original sin; or, The first and second Adam, Rom. 5. 12. Psalm 51. 5. Job 11. 4

Isaac Watts printed it in 1707 in Hymns and Spiritual Songs, Book I, no. 57, under Romans 5:12, 5, 4.

WRITTEN BY

Isaac Watts 1674–1748

PRINTED

1707 Hymns and Spiritual Songs · no. 57

METRE

Common Metre 8.6.8.6 · 8 stanzas

WRITTEN ON

Romans 5:12, 5, 4 the verse printed above it

The hymn, and the Scripture in it

All 8 stanzas as Watts printed them, with the verses their lines echo beside them. Point at a line to join it to its verse; click to read the passage.

SHARED WORDSthe verse shares the line's wording ECHOproposed by an AI model, confirmed by a separate check Not the author's own notes

AMONG THE SCRIPTURES

The stanzas at the centre; around them, every book its heading and its echoes come from, Old Testament on the left and New on the right. Choose a stanza or a book.

a line echoes this verse its heading or an echo comes from here

STANZA I

Backward with humble shame we look

On our original;

How is our nature dash'd and broke

In our first father's fall!

No line of this stanza quotes a verse closely; it is the hymn's own confession.

Where Watts found it

Watts printed the hymn under Romans 5:12, 5, 4. The line that comes closest to it is marked.

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, so also death was passed on to all men, because all sinned. ROMANS 5:12, 5, 4 · BEREAN STANDARD BIBLE READ ROMANS 5

[Conceiv'd in sin (O wretched state!) Before we draw our breath, The first young pulse begins to beat Iniquity and death. STANZA III

Its place in the book

Book I of the hymn book, “Collected from the Holy Scriptures”, holds these hymns in this order: 179 hymns. This is number 57. Point at a tick to see the hymn; click it to open that hymn.

NO. 57 · ISAAC WATTS · THIS HYMN Backward with humble shame we look

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