The riches of Thy pardoning grace

Verse 1
The riches of thy pardning grace
I have too long despis’d,
Nor husbanded the added space,
Nor every moment priz’d:
I harden’d by ten thousand falls
My unrepenting heart,
Withstood thy slighted Spirit’s calls,
And forc’d him to depart.

Verse 2
But now inlighten’d from above
Thy kind intent I see,
And led by thy unwearied love
I come at last to Thee:
I know Thou hast so long foreborn
And kept me out of hell,
That I might to my Saviour turn,
And all thy goodness feel.

Verse 3
I from this instant now repent,
Beneath my vileness groan,
Renounce my idols, and consent
To live for God alone:
But let me suffer on till death
Tho’ pardon’d and restor’d,
Lamenting with my latest breath
That I have griev’d my Lord.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance, and long-suffering? not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?’—[Rom.] 2:4.” This hymn appears in the 1783 manuscript “MS Scriptural Hymns.” 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 1977/576, Charles Wesley Notebooks Box 3). Accessed through the website of The Center for Studies in the Wesleyan Tradition, Duke Divinity School. Published in The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Collected and Arranged by G. Osborn, Vol. 13 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1872), page 4.
Publishing: Public Domain