Verse 1
The hoary saint for heaven mature,
Strengthen’d by this prophetic word,
Those after-sufferings to endure,
In bonds and death pursues his Lord,
His Lord and God he glorifies,
And on a cross, Like Jesus, dies.

Verse 2
O for an end like his, whose sin
I have so often made my own,
Ten thousand times unfaithful been
To Christ, as One I ne’er had known,
Ten thousand times by deeds denied,
And trampled on the Crucified.

Verse 3
O could I first repent, and prove
The bitterness of Peter’s woe;
By labours of intensest love
My loyalty to Jesus show,
And feed his lambs, and feed his sheep,
Yet still go on my way, and weep!

Verse 4
Then Lord’—but trembling I forbear
To emulate the martyr’s crown;
Yet suffer me thy cross to share,
And lay with life the burthen down,
And while Thou dost my spirit receive,
To echo thy last word Forgive!