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 labour’d, Lord,

To ’stablish my own righteousness,

And been what I abhor’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 offence 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 ought I do, or feel,

But own, while humbled in the dust,

My whole desert is hell.

11. 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 sav’d by grace.