Know Then That Every Soul Is Free

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<Collection of Sacred Hymns (Kirtland, Ohio)

Publication Information

Know Then That Every Soul Is Free (or The Freedom of the Will) was first published in Elias Smith and Abner Jones's 1805 camp-meeting collection, Hymns Original and Selected for the Use of Christians. The text below, however, is from the first Latter Day Saint Hymnal.

Text

     S A C R E D  H Y M N S .

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         HYMN 1.  L. M.

1 Know then that ev'ry soul is free,
To choose his life and what he'll be;
For this eternal truth is given,
That God will force no man to heaven

2 He'll call, persuade direct him right;,
Bless him with wisdom, love, and light;
In nameless ways be good and kind;
But never force the human mind.

3 Freedom and reason make us men:
Take these away, what are we then?
Mere animals, and just as well,
The beasts may think of heaven or hell.

4 May we no more our powers abuse,
But ways of truth and goodness choose;
Our God is pleas'd when we improve
His grace, and seek his perfect love.

[Page 6]

5 It's my free will for to believe:
'Tis God's free will me to receive:
To stubborn willers this I'll tell,
It's all free grace, and all free will.

6 Those that despise, grow harder still;
Those that adhere, he turns their will;
And thus despisers sink to hell,
While those that hear in glory dwell.

7 But if we take the downward road,
And make in hell our last abode;
Our God is clear, and we shall know,
We've plunged ourselves in endless wo.

Source

Collection of Sacred Hymns (Kirtland, Ohio: F. G. Williams & co., 1835), hymn 1, pp. 5-6.