Hymns and Tunes 1876 117
Hymn 117
1SAY, burdened soul, whose numerous sins
In dark array arise,
What canst thou find to suffocate
The terrors of thy debt ?
2Canst thou not love the Friend who died
To quit thy burden of shame ?
Look to the cross that precious blood,
The scourge, the cross, the tomb !
3If heavy is thy weight of guilt,
Thy love must greater be ;
That very sin which was his spilt,
Will shed his peace on thee.
Public Domain
The verse
- Meter
- 9.6.8.6
- Foot
- iambic (da-DUM) · 66% of beats fit
- Rhyme
- ABCD
Scan every line
/ stressed · ˘ unstressed · ? not in the dictionary
Verse 1
SAY, burdened soul, whose numerous sins//˘/˘/˘˘/9A
In dark array arise,˘/˘/˘/6B
What canst thou find to suffocate˘///˘/˘/8C
The terrors of thy debt ?˘/˘˘//6D
Verse 2
Canst thou not love the Friend who died//˘/˘/˘/8A
To quit thy burden of shame ?˘///˘˘/7B
Look to the cross that precious blood,/˘˘/˘/˘/8C
The scourge, the cross, the tomb !˘/˘/˘/6D
Verse 3
If heavy is thy weight of guilt,˘/˘˘//˘/8A
Thy love must greater be ;////˘˘6B
That very sin which was his spilt,˘/˘/˘˘˘/8A
Will shed his peace on thee.˘/˘/˘/6B
Counted by machine from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. It cannot hear emphasis or a poet’s licence, so treat it as a place to start reading, not the last word.