Scripture Verse

Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. Matthew 15:19

Introduction

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Thomas Haweis
(1734–1820)

Words: Charles Wes­ley, Hymns and Sac­red Po­ems 1749, Vol­ume 1, pag­es 162–63. This hymn been pub­lished in nu­mer­ous al­tered forms.

Music: Rich­mond (Ha­weis) Tho­mas Ha­weis, Car­mi­na Chris­to 1792 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tune:

portrait
Charles Wesley (1707–1788)

Lyrics

O what an ev­il heart have I,
So cold, and hard, and blind,
With sin so rea­dy to com­ply,
And cast my God be­hind!

So apt His mer­cy to for­get,
So soon dis­solved in ease,
So false, so full of all de­ceit,
And des­per­ate wick­ed­ness!

Long have I mur­mured to be clean,
From all ini­qui­ty,
But knew not that I loved my sin,
And would not be set free.

Oft when the pleas­ing ill drew nigh,
And God fore­showed my fall,
I would not from temp­ta­tion fly,
Or heed the Spir­it’s call.

His warn­ing voice I would not mind,
But turned mine ear away,
And lin­ger­ing stood, ’till sin should find
And seize its will­ing prey.

Oft have I asked for help, afraid
Lest God my voice should hear,
While with de­ceit­ful lips, I said
Th’Abom­in­able Pray­er.

Oft, when He would not let me yield,
But stopped me by His grace,
I raged from sin to be with­held,
And burst from His em­brace.

When af­ter each foul sin­ful fall,
I would have all giv­en up;
He would not let me give up all,
But forced me still to hope.

Infinite, un­ex­haust­ed love!
Jesus and love are One;
If still to me Thy bow­els move,
They are re­strained to none.

If me, e’en me, Thou yet canst spare,
Fury is not in Thee;
For all Thy ten­der mer­cies are,
If mer­cy is for me.

What shall I do, my God to love,
My lov­ing God to praise!
The length, and breadth, and height to prove
And depth of so­ver­eign grace!

Thy so­ver­eign grace to all ex­tends,
Immense and un­confined;
From age to age it ne­ver ends,
It reach­es all man­kind.

Throughout the world its breadth is known,
Wide as in­fi­ni­ty,
So wide it ne­ver passed by one;
Or it had passed by me.

My tres­pass was grown up to Hea­ven;
But far above the skies,
In Christ abun­dant­ly for­giv­en,
I see Thy mer­cies rise!

The depth of all re­deem­ing love,
What an­gel tongue can tell?
O may I to the ut­most prove
The gift un­speak­able!

Deeper than hell, it plucked me thence;
Deeper than in­bred sin:
Jesus His love my heart shall cleanse,
When Je­sus en­ters in.

Come quick­ly, then, my Lord, and take
Possession of Thine own;
My long­ing heart vouch­safe to make
Thine ev­er­last­ing throne.

Assert Thy claim, re­ceive Thy right,
Come quick­ly from above,
And sink me to per­fect­ion’s height,
The depth of hum­ble love.