Verse 1
Ah! My dear, loving Lord,
To thee what shall I say?
Behold I tremble at thy word,
And scarce presume to pray:
Ten thousand wants have I,
Alas! I all things want,
And thou hast bid me always cry,
And never, never faint.

Verse 2
Yet now, thou know’st, I fear,
I fear to ask thy grace,
So often have I, Lord, drawn near,
And mock’d thee to thy face:
With all pollutions stain’d,
Thy hallow’d courts I trod,
Thy name and temple I prophan’d
And dar’d to call thee God.

Verse 3
Nigh with my lips I drew,
My lips were all unclean,
Thee with my heart I never knew,
My heart was full of sin;
Far from the living God,
As far as hell from heaven,
Thy purity I still abhor’d,
Nor wish’d[1] to be forgiven.

Verse 4
My nature I obey’d,
My own desires[2] pursu’d,
And still a den of thieves I made
The hallow’d house of God;
The worship he approves
To him I would not pay;
My selfish ends, and creature-loves
Had stole my heart away.

Verse 5
My sin and nakedness
I studied to disguise,
Spoke to my soul a flattering peace,
And put out mine own eyes;
In fig-leaves I appear’d,
Nor with my form would part,
But still retain’d a conscience sear’d,
An hard, deceitful heart.

Verse 6
A goodly, formal saint
I long appear’d in sight,
By self and Satan taught to paint
My tomb, my nature, white:
The Pharisee within
Still undisturb’d remain’d,
The strong-man arm’d with guilt of sin
Safe in his palace reign’d.

Verse 7
But O! The jealous God
In my behalf came down,
Jesus himself the stronger shew’d,
And claim’d me for his own:
My spirit he alarm’d,
And brought into distress,
He shook, and bound the strong-man, arm’d
In his self-righteousness.

Verse 8
Faded my virtuous shew,
My form without the power,
The sin-convincing Spirit blew,
And blasted every flower;
My mouth was stopt, and shame
Cover’d my guilty face,
I fell on the atoning Lamb,
And I was sav’d by grace.

[1] Wesley changed “wish’d” to “look’d” in 1745.
[2] Wesley changed “desires” to “desire” in 1745.