Verse 1
Ah, what a wretch am I!
I cannot watch one hour:
The roaring lion still is nigh,
And ready to devour:
A constant watch he keeps,
He eyes me night and day,
And never slumbers, never sleeps,
Lest he should lose his prey.

Verse 2
The world are always nigh,
And for my halting wait,
The Philistines in ambush lie,
On me to wreck their hate:
They watch my every turn,
They mark where’er I go,
Their malice not to sleep hath sworn,
’Till it hath kill’d their foe.

Verse 3
The Delilah within
Ready each moment stands
To give me up, fast bound by sin,
Into their cruel hands:
I slight my Saviour’s aid,
Take my destroyer’s part,
And still am falling, self-betray’d
By my own faithless heart.

Verse 4
How weak my heart and blind,
That I can think of ease,
Can comfort for a moment find
In such a state as this!
Can fold my arms to sleep,
Nor pain, nor horror feel,
While sinking swift into the deep,
And dropping into hell.

Verse 5
Gracious Redeemer, shake
This slumber from my soul,
Say to me now, Awake, awake,
And Christ shall make thee whole:
Lay to thy mighty hand,
Alarm me in this hour,
And make me fully understand
The thunder of thy power.

Verse 6
Give me on thee to call,
Always to watch and pray,
Lest I into temptation fall,
And cast my shield away:
For each assault prepar’d,
And ready may I be,
Forever standing on my guard,
And looking up to thee.

Verse 7
O! Do thou always warn
My soul of evil near,
When to the right or left I turn,
The witness let me hear,
“Come back; this is the way:
Come back, and walk herein:”
O may I hearken, and obey,
And shun the paths of sin.

Verse 8
I would from every sin
As from a serpent fly,
Abhor to touch the thing unclean,
And rather chuse to die.
I would, I would my last
This very moment breathe,
Would die, that I may never taste
Of sin, and second death.

Verse 9
Thou seest my feebleness,
Jesus, be thou my power:
My help, and refuge in distress,
My fortress and my tower:
Cause me to trust in thee,
Be thou my sure abode,
My horn, and rock, and buckler be,
My Saviour, and my God.

Verse 10
Myself I cannot save,
Myself I cannot keep;
But strength in thee I surely have,
Whose eyelids never sleep.
My soul to thee alone
Now therefore I commend;
Thou, Jesus, having lov’d thine own,
Shalt love me to the end.