Hymns

HYMN I.

1 WHERE have I been so long,

Fast bound in sin and night,

Mix’d with the blind self-righteous throng Who hate the sons of light?

2 O how shall I presume,

Jesus, to call on thee,

Sunk in the lowest dregs of Rome, The worst idolatry!

3 A stranger to thy grace,

Long have I labor’d, Lord,

To ‘stablish my own righteousness, And been what I abhorr’d.

4 Foe to the Popish boast,

No merit was in me!

Yet in my works I put my trust,

And not alone in thee.

5 For works that I had wrought

I look’d to be forgiven,

And by my virtuous tempers thought At last to purchase heaven.

6 Or if I needed still

The help of grace divine,

Thy merits should come in to fill The small defects of mine.

7 Alas! I knew not then,

Thou only didst atone

For all the sinful sons of men,

And purge our guilt alone;

8 Didst shed thy blood to pay

The all-sufficient price,

And take the world’s offense away By thy great sacrifice.

9 But O, my dying God,

By thee convinced at last,

My soul on that atoning blood,

On that alone, I cast!

10 I dare no longer trust

On aught I do, or feel,

But own, while humbled in the dust, My whole desert is hell.

My works of righteousness,

I cast them all away:

Me, Lord, thou frankly must release, For I have nought to pay.

12 Not one good word or thought

I to thy merits join;

But gladly take the gift, unbought, Of righteousness divine.

13 My faith is all in thee,

My only hope thou art;

The pardon thou hast bought for me, Engrave it on my heart.

14 The blood by faith applied,

O let it now take place;

And speak me freely justified,

And fully saved by grace.

———

HYMN II.

1 FORGIVE me, O thou jealous God, A wretch who on thy laws have trod, And robb’d thee of thy right;

A sinner to myself unknown,

‘Gainst thee I have transgress’d, and done This evil in thy sight.

2 My body I disdain’d to’ incline, Or worship at an idol’s shrine,

With gross idolatry;

But O! my soul hath baser proved, Honor’d, and fear’d, and served and loved The creature more than thee.

3 Let the blind sons of Rome bow down To images of wood and stone;

But I, with subtler art,

Safe from the letter of thy word, My idols secretly adored,

Set up within my heart.

4 But O! suffice the season past; My idols now away I cast,

Pleasure, and wealth, and fame;

The world, and all its goods, I leave, To thee alone resolved to give

Whate’er I have or am,

5 Lo! in a thankful, loving heart, I render thee whate’er thou art,

I give myself to thee;

And thee my whole delight I own,

My joy, my glory, and my crown,

To all eternity.

———

HYMN III.

1 O THOU who seest what is in man, And show’st myself to me,

Sinner a sinner to complain,

And groan his griefs to thee.

2 A sinner, that has cloak’d his shame With self-deceiving art;

Thy worshipper reform’d in name,

But unrenew’d in heart.

3 The servants most unlike their Lord, How oft did I condemn!

The persecuting Church abhorr’d,

Nor saw myself in them!

4 The spirit of my foes I caught, The angry, bitter zeal;

And fierce for my own party fought, And breathed the fire of hell.

5 Threat’ning I did and slaughter breathe, (The flail of heresy,)

And doom the sects to bonds, or death, That did not think with me.

6 To propagate the truth, I fought With fury and despite;

And, in my zeal for Israel, sought To slay the Gibeonite.

7 “The temple of the Lord are we!” And all who dared deny,

I would not have their conscience free, But force them to comply.

8 With wholesome discipline severe To conquer them I strove,

And drive into the pale through fear, Who would not come through love.

9 How vainly then the zealots blind Of Rome did I disclaim!

Still to the church of Satan join’d, And differing but in name.

10 How could I, Lord, myself deceive, While unreform’d within?

Protest against their creed, and cleave The closer to their sin?

11 Their foulest sin my own I made, (And humbly now confess,)

While by my anger I essay’d

To work thy righteousness.

12 A murderer convict, I come

My vileness to bewail;

By nature born a son of Rome,

A child of wrath and hell.

13 Lord, I at last recant, reject, Through thy great strength alone, The madness of the Romish sect,

The madness of my own.

14 Lord, I abhor, renounce, abjure, The fiery spirit unclean,

The persecuting zeal impure,

The sin-opposing sin.

15 Let others draw, with fierce despite, The’ eradicating sword,

And with the devil’s weapons fight, The battles of the Lord.

16 But O! my gracious God, to me

A better spirit impart;

The gentle mind that was in thee, The meekly loving heart.

17 The heart whose charity o’erflows To all, far off, and near;

True charity to friends and foes, Impartially sincere.

18 Heathens, and Jews, and Turks, may I, And heretics embrace;

Nor e’en to Rome the love deny

I owe to all the race.