Are there no exceptions?

(Henry Law, "Psalms" 1878)

The fool says in his heart, "There is no God."
They are corrupt, and their ways are vile;
there is no one who does good.  Psalm 53:1

The heart is the true mirror of the man.

Its language speaks the real character.

If we could hear the secret whispers
of a graceless heart, the sound would
be uniformly evil.

The godless cherish the delusion that there
is no being greater than themselves. Their
conceit ignores divine supremacy, and scorns
to yield to a superior yoke.

Such men exist in fearful numbers.

The faithful Word declares it, and truly adds
that they are fools! They may pride themselves
in imagined wisdom, but their real place is in
the depths of ignorance. Their light is darkness.
Their boasted knowledge is extremest folly.

It follows that from atheism in heart,
comes wickedness in life.

The spring being impure, what can flow
from it but defilement?

The tree is rotten at the core; the branches
cannot be sound.

Their works, the emblems of their hearts,
can only be abomination. They only pollute
the earth; hateful to God, injurious to man.

Are there no exceptions?

Not one by nature!

There is no good but what the Holy Spirit
implants. Where He is absent only evil dwells,
and He has no abode in unregenerate men.

The fool says in his heart, "There is no God."
They are corrupt, and their ways are vile;
there is no one who does good.  Psalm 53:1