How shall the sons of men ap­pear,
Great God, be­fore Thine aw­ful bar?
How may the guil­ty hope to find
Acceptance with th’eter­nal Mind?

Not vows, nor groans, nor brok­en cries,
Not the most cost­ly sac­ri­fice,
Not in­fant blood pro­fuse­ly spilt,
Will ex­pi­ate a sin­ner’s guilt.

Thy blood, dear Je­sus, Thine alone,
Hath so­ver­eign vir­tue to atone:
Here we will rest our on­ly plea,
When we ap­proach, great God, to Thee.