University of Virginia Library

Lord, let thy clemency divine
Conspicuous in my pardon shine;
O let the fulness of thy grace
Each error of my life efface,
Its influence to my soul convey,
And wash my ev'ry stain away.
My conscious heart its guilt shall own;
My Deed to Thee, and Thee alone,
Obnoxious, nor the day nor night
Conceals from my abhorring sight.
Just is thy sentence, holiest Lord,
And Truth eternal seals thy word.
Thou from the birth my soul couldst view,
As shap'd in sin my breath I drew,
And feest me guilt's transmissive stain
Through life's revolving course retain.
But deep within my inmost frame
(Nor dares my soul contest thy claim,)
Thy just Decrees, Almighty Sire,
Integrity and Truth require;
Thy hand, corrective of my will,
Shall wisdom in my breast instill;
With hallow'd hyssop sprinkled o'er,
My soul its spots shall mourn no more,
But, cleans'd by Thee, the whiteness know,
That clothes the new-descended snow.
How shall my ear thy pard'ning voice
Transported welcome! How rejoice
My bones, with vital moisture fill'd,
That, crush'd by Thee, by Thee are heal'd?
O turn, great Ruler of the Skies,
Turn from my Sin thy searching eyes,
Nor let th' offences of my hand
Within thy book recorded stand.
Give me a will to thine subdu'd,
A conscience pure, a soul renew'd,
Nor let me, wrapt in endless gloom,
An outcast from thy presence roam,
Or absent mourn th' ethereal Guest,
Whose visits chear th' afflicted breast.
O let thy Spirit to my heart
Once more his quick'ning aid impart,
My mind from ev'ry fear release,
And sooth my troubled thoughts to peace.
So shall the souls, whom Error's sway
Has urg'd from Thee, blest Lord, to stray,
From Me thy heav'nly precepts learn,
And humbled to their God return.
O would thy healing grace bestow'd
Absolve me from my debt of blood,
How should my tongue thy Justice sing,
Invisible, Immortal King,
And, long as breath extends my days,
The God of my Salvation praise!
Not Victims, Lord, in solemn rite
Presented, thy desire excite;
Else should my hand with zealous care
Th' exacted holocaust prepare:
A Spirit griev'd is sacrifice
Delightful to th' all-seeing eyes;
The heart, that, taught its guilt to know,
Repentant heaves with inward woe,
Shall find its pray'r, its groans, its sighs,
To Thee in full acceptance rise.

Thy grace to Sion, Lord, extend,
And bid fair Salem's walls ascend:
So shall the Sons of Jacob's line
With purest off'rings load thy Shrine,
And, while in many a lengthen'd wreath
Their incense shall its odows breathe,
Before thy altar doom'd to bleed
The slaughter'd steer the flames shall feed.