Verse 1
Jesu, sin-atoning Lamb,
Thine utmost pity shew:
All the virtue of thy name
O let thy rebels know!
Us, by God and man abhor’d,
Into thy kind protection take;
Spare the guilty nation, Lord,
For thy own mercy-sake.[1]

Verse 2
Worst of all th’ apostate race,
Yet listen to our cry;
Most unworthy of thy grace,
Without thy grace we die;
Tophet is our just reward,
Yet snatch us from the burning lake,
Spare the guilty nation, Lord,
For thy own mercy-sake.

Verse 3
Scandal of the Christian name,
Which still we vainly bear,
Sodom-like, our sin and shame
We openly declare,
Trample on thy sacred word,
And cast thy laws behind our back:
Spare the guilty nation, Lord,
For thy own mercy-sake.

Verse 4
Though thy judgments are abroad,
Let us thy goodness prove,
Save us, O all-gracious God,
In honour of thy love:
Though thy righteous wrath is stir’d,
Arising slow, the earth to shake,
Spare the guilty nation, Lord,
For thy own mercy-sake.

Verse 5
In our forty days reprieve,
Warn the rebellious race;
Bid us turn, repent, and live
To glorify thy grace;
O reverse the threatning word,
And do not, do not vengeance take,
Spare the guilty nation, Lord,
For thy own mercy-sake.

Verse 6
O alarm the sleeping crowd,
And fill their souls with dread;
Then avert the low’ring cloud,
Impendent o’er our head:
Turn aside th’ invading sword,
And drive the alien armies back,
Spare the guilty nation, Lord,
For thy own mercy-sake.

[1] Wesley replaced “mercy-sake” with “mercy’s sake” in this and later locations in the hymn 1745,