Verse 1
A sinner’s heart by lust possest,
Of birds unclean the loathsom nest,
Of fiends the dark abode,
A stinking sepulchre it lies,
While the poor wretch with horror flies
The sight of man and God.
Verse 2
Shut up within himself he dwells,
Corruption, rottenness conceals,
Till the Deliverer come:
Tormented then with sudden light,
The slave of hell bewrays his fright,
And rushes from his tomb.
Verse 3
Jesus, thy Spirit drags him thence,
Compel’d by thine Omnipotence
He shows himself to Thee,
His putrid heart, his shameful vice
Exposes to thy glorious eyes,
Thou God of purity!