Sin, Confession of

Verse 1

Ah! how shall fallen man
Be just before his God?
If he contend in righteousness,
We fall beneath his rod.

Verse 2

If he our ways should mark
With strict inquiring eyes,
Could we for one of thousand faults
A just excuse devise?

Verse 3

All-seeing, powerful God,
Who can with thee contend?
Or who that tries the unequal strife,
Shall prosper in the end?

Verse 4

Ah! how shall guilty man
Contend with such a God?
None, none can meet him and escape,
But through the Savior’s blood.

Verse 1

Astonished and distressed,
I turn mine eyes within;
My heart with loads of guilt oppressed,
The source of every sin.

Verse 2

What crowds of evil thoughts,
What vile affections there!
Envy and pride, deceit and guile,
Distrust and slavish fear.

Verse 3

Almighty King of saints!
These tyrant lusts subdue;
Drive the old serpent from his seat,
And all my powers renew.

Verse 4

This done,--my cheerful voice
Shall loud hosannas raise;
My heart shall glow with gratitude,
My lips be filled with praise.

Verse 1

Depth of mercy! can there be
Mercy still reserved for me?
Can my God his wrath forbear?
Me, the chief of sinners, spare?

Refrain

God is love; I know, I feel;
Jesus weeps and loves me still;
Jesus weeps and loves me still.

Verse 2

I have long withstood his grace,
Long provoked him to his face;
Would not hearken to his calls;
Grieved him by a thousand falls.

Verse 3

There for me the Savior stands;
Shows his wounds and spreads his hands;
God is love; I know, I feel;
Jesus weeps, and loves me still.

Verse 4

Now incline me to repent;
Let me now my fall lament;
Now my foul revolt deplore;
Weep, believe, and sin no more.

Verse 1

How heavy is the night
That hangs upon our eyes,
Till Christ with his reviving light
Over our souls arise.

Verse 2

Our guilty spirits dread
To meet the wrath of heaven;
But, in his righteousness arrayed,
We see our sins forgiven.

Verse 3

The powers of hell agree
To hold our souls in vain;
He sets the sons of bondage free,
And breaks the cursed chain.

Verse 4

Lord, we adore thy ways
To bring us near to God,
Thy sovereign power, thy healing grace,
And thine atoning blood.

Verse 1

How sad our state by nature is!
Our sin--how deep it stains!
And Satan binds our captive minds,
Fast in his slavish chains.

Verse 2

But there’s a voice of sovereign grace
Sounds from the sacred word;--
“Ho! ye despairing sinners! come
And trust a faithful Lord.”

Verse 3

My soul obeys the gracious call
And runs to this relief;
I would believe thy promise, Lord!
Oh! help my unbelief.

Verse 4

To the blest fountain of thy blood,
Incarnate God! I fly;
Here let me wash my spotted soul,
From crimes of deepest dye.

Verse 5

A guilty, weak, and helpless worm,
On thy kind arms I fall;
Be thou my strength and righteousness
My Jesus, and my all.

Verse 1

Oh, that my load of sin were gone;
Oh, that I could at last submit
At Jesus’ feet to lay it down--
To lay my soul at Jesus’ feet.

Verse 2

Rest for my soul I long to find;
Savior of all, if mine thou art,
Give me the meek and lowly mind,
And stamp thine image on my heart.

Verse 3

Break off the yoke of inbred sin,
And fully set my spirit free;
I cannot rest till pure within--
Till I am wholly lost in thee.

Verse 4

Fain would I learn of thee, my God;
Thy light and easy burden prove;
The cross all stained with hallowed blood,
The labor of thy dying love.

Verse 5

I would, but thou must give the power;
My heart from every sin release;
Bring near, bring near the joyful hour,
And fill me with thy perfect peace.

Verse 1

Show pity, Lord, O Lord, forgive;
Let a repenting rebel live;
Are not thy mercies large and free?
May not a sinner trust in thee?

Verse 2

My crimes, though great, cannot surpass
The power and glory of thy grace;
Great God, thy nature hath no bound,
So let thy pard’ning love be found.

Verse 3

Oh, wash my soul from every sin,
And make my guilty conscience clean;
Here, on my heart, the burden lies
And past offenses pain mine eyes.

Verse 4

My lips with shame my sins confess,
Against thy law, against thy grace;
Lord, should thy judgment grow severe,
I am condemned, but thou art clear.

Verse 5

Yet save a trembling sinner, Lord,
Whose hope, still hovering round thy word,
Would light on some sweet promise there,
Some sure support against despair.

With lowly love, and loving trust, and trustful obedience, we would come to Thee now, O Lord. With Thee is the fountain of life. All our seeing is by Thy light, and all our joys are in the drinking of the river of Thy pleasures. Help us, we beseech Thee, drawn by Thy grace, and driven by our sins, and knit into such close communion with Thyself, that there may flow into our hearts the life, the light, the joy, which Thou dost mean us to possess. We acknowledge that we, by our own faults, have been dead in trespasses and sins. We acknowledge that we have loved darkness more than the light of life. We acknowledge that we have sought, and in some partial measure found, our joys elsewhere than in Thee. And we come to Thee now, not without some sense of our follies, and beseech Thee that Thou wouldst deliver us from the snares of falsely fixed desires, and wouldst keep us from the folly of seeking in the world for what it can never give, and wouldst stir us up that we may take hold upon Thee, and laying hold of Thee may find that we have Thee for our very own.

We thank Thee, Lord, for all Thy blessings to us. We praise Thee for daily care and nightly mercies. We beseech Thee that Thou wouldst help us to offer up to Thee not only the words of thanksgiving but the sacrifice of loving, trustful, and obedient hearts, and that our characters may become more like what Thou wouldst have us to be. We have to pray for the forgiveness of many imperfections and sins. We could not lose the consciousness of our own shortcomings. We pray Thee to deliver us from all illusions as to our own strength and our own righteousness. We pray Thee for quickened consciences, enlightened by Thee; and we beseech Thee that Thou wouldst preserve us from ever losing sight of our own deep necessities, or from ever seeing them so mountainous and great as that they obscure Thy greater mercy and Thy more than sufficient supplies. May we ever hold in one grasp our own need and Thy infinite riches, our own sinfulness and Thy free blessing, our own deficiencies and Thy wealth.