Scripture Verse

I acknowledge my transgressions. Psalm 51:3

Introduction

portrait
John Hughes (1872–1914)

Words: Au­thor un­known. Pub­lished in Songs of Glad­ness (Lon­don: Sun­day School Un­ion, 1871), num­ber 54: Abridged from Hymns for Qui­et Hours. An 1877 ca­ta­log of Brit­ish books in print lists Hymns for Qui­et Hours, show­ing the author as C. K. T. (ap­par­ent­ly Mrs. Da­ni­el Tom­kins, author of Twil­ight Vers­es).

Music: Ca­lon Lân John Hughes (1872–1914) (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tunes:

If you know when the mu­sic was writ­ten, the ly­ri­cist, or where to get a good pic­ture of him (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

Lowly bend­ing at Thy foot­stool,
Humbly kneel­ing at Thy feet,
Lord, I come, with deep con­tri­tion,
Thy for­giv­eness to en­treat.
Far from Thee my heart has wan­dered,
Filled with trif­ling, earth­ly thought,
Never do I seem to love Thee,
Or to serve Thee as I ought.

When Thy sac­red Book I’m read­ing,
When its leaves with glo­ry shine,
When the Spi­rit is re­veal­ing
To my soul some truth di­vine,
Even then there come to vex me
Thoughts I do not love or seek,
Proving that my faith is wa­ver­ing,
That my strength is grow­ing weak.

Lord, on Thee I cast this bur­den,
Helpless in this fight am I;
Hear my pray­er, O God, for suc­cor,
Hear Thy ser­vant’s ear­nest cry:
Oh for­give my past trans­gress­ions,
All these wan­der­ing thoughts re­move,
Fill my heart to ov­erf­low­ing
With my pre­cious Sav­ior’s love.