As Dead

As over me the world once reigned,
And lust and pride their hold maintained,

As over me the world once reigned,
And lust and pride their hold maintained,
Let now the Holy Ghost control,
And be director of my soul.

Once death, in which I loved to dwell,
Would keep me from the living well,
So now an equal deadness rules
To keep me from sins’ murky pools.

As dead as once I was to grace,
And loathe to run the heav’nly race,
So dead would I now be to sin;
So disciplined that race to win.

As once to sin I homage paid;
My members sin’s dictates obeyed,
So now, with equal zeal and more,
To God I yield and sin abhor.

Nita Brainard