Verse 1
Where have I been so long
Fast bound in sin and night
Mix’d with the blind self-righteous throng
Who hate the sons of light?

Verse 2
O how shall I presume,
Jesus, to call on thee,
Sunk in the lowest dregs of Rome,
The worst idolatry!

Verse 3
A stranger to thy grace,
Long have I labour’d, Lord,
To ’stablish my own righteousness,
And been what I abhor’d.

Verse 4
Foe to the Popish boast
No merit was in me.
Yet in my works I put my trust,
And not alone in thee.

Verse 5
For works that I had wrought
I look’d to be forgiven,
And by my virtuous tempers thought
At last to purchase heaven.

Verse 6
Or if I needed still
The help of grace divine,
Thy merits should come in to fill
The small defects of mine.

Verse 7
Alas! I knew not then
Thou only didst atone
For all the sinful sons of men,
And purge our guilt alone;

Verse 8
Didst shed thy blood to pay
The all-sufficient price,
And take the world’s offence away
By thy great sacrifice.

Verse 9
But O! My dying God,
By thee convinc’d at last,
My soul on that atoning blood,
On that alone I cast.

Verse 10
I dare no longer trust
In[1] ought I do, or feel,
But own, while humbled in the dust,
My whole desert is hell.

Verse 11
My works and[2] righteousness
I cast them all away;
Me, Lord, thou frankly must release,
For I have nought to pay:

Verse 12
Not one good word or thought
I to thy merits join,
But humbly[3] take the gift unbought
The[4] righteousness divine.

Verse 13
My faith is all in thee,
My only hope thou art,
The pardon thou hast bought for me,
Engrave it on my heart:

Verse 14
The blood by faith apply’d
O let it now take place,
And speak me freely justify’d,
And fully sav’d thro’[5] grace.

[1] Wesley changed “In” to “On” in 1746.
[2] Wesley changed “and” to “of” in 1746.
[3] Wesley changed “humbly” to “gladly” in 1746.
[4] Wesley changed “The” to “Of” in 1746.
[5] Wesley changed “thro’” to “by” in 1746.