Giver of penitence, begin

Verse 1
Giver of penitence, begin
Thy previous work of grace in me,
Convinc’d, confounded at my sin,
Deep sunk in false humility
My groveling, abject spirit raise;
Yet all my righteous pride abase.

Verse 2
To rectify my crooked will,
To smooth my nature’s ruggedness,
Reform’d from every outward ill
O bid me now from sinning cease,
Thy way into my heart prepare,
And then display thy Glory there.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘Every valley shall be filled &c.’—[Luke 3,] v. 5.” This hymn appears in the 1766 manuscript “MS Luke.” This manuscript is part of the collection of the Methodist Archive and Research Centre in The John Rylands Library, The University of Manchester (accession number MA 1977/575, Charles Wesley Notebooks Box 3). Accessed through the website of The Center for Studies in the Wesleyan Tradition, Duke Divinity School. Published in S.T. Kimbrough Jr. and Oliver A. Beckerlegge, eds., The Unpublished Poetry of Charles Wesley, vol. 2 (Nashville: Kingswood Books, 1990), pages 85-86. Verse 2 was published in The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Collected and Arranged by G. Osborn, Vol. 11 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1871), page 125.
Publishing: Public Domain