All Mankind Fell in Adam's Fall

You want to learn some doctrine? Sure you do......and here's a hymn to help you do so: "All Mankind Fell In Adam's Fall", written in 1524 by Lazarus Spengler. Tune by Louis Bourgeois and translation by Matthias Loy. We sang this hymn yesterday in church.

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Verse 1:

All mankind fell in Adam's fall,

One common sin infects us all;

From sire to son the bane descends,

And over all the curse impends.

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Verse 2:

Through humankind corruption creeps

And them in dreadful bondage keeps;

In guilt they draw the infant breath

And reap its fruits of woe and death.

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Verse 3:

From hearts depraved, to evil prone,

Flow thoughts and deeds of sin alone;

God's image lost, the darkened soul

Seeks not nor finds its heavenly goal.

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Verse 4:

But Christ, the second Adam, came

To bear our sin and woe and shame,

To be our life, our light, our way,

Our only hope, our only stay.

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Verse 5:

As by one man all mankind fell

And, born in sin, was doomed to hell,

So by one Man, who took our place,

We all received the gift of grace.

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Verse 6:

We thank you, Christ; new life is ours,

New light, new hope, new strength, new powers:

This grace our every way attend

Until we reach our journey's end.

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It would be more complete if this hymn mentioned the Cross somewhere.......probably in verse 4. And it doesn't mention Sacraments, but other than that it clearly tells the story of sin, justification, and maybe even sanctification (verse 6----but Lutherans aren't supposed to give much thought to that apart from the Sacraments).

Cyberhymnal link: www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/a/l/l/allmanfa.htm