1 OUT of the depths of sad distress,
The gloomy mazes of despair,
To heaven we raise our warm address;
Deign, O our God! to hear our prayer:
O let thine ear indulge our grief,
For thy indulgence is relief.
2 Shouldst thou, O God, minutely scan
Our faults, and as severely chide,
No mortal seed of sinful man
Could such a scrutiny abide :
But mercy shines in all thy ways,
Bright theme of universal praise!
3 With longing eyes we seek the Lord;
Before his throne our souls attend;
Firmly on his eternal word
Our faith is fixed, our hopes depend:
On wings of love our souls shall rise
In contemplation to the skies.
4 Ye pious minds, on God rely;
With full assurance in him trust;
He sends redemption from on high,
And raises sinners from the dust:
He will at length absolve his heirs
From all their guilt and all their fears.
1 HERE in thy temple, Lord, we meet,
And bow before thy throne;
Abased and guilty at thy feet,
We seek thy grace alone.
2 Our sins rise up in dread array,
And fill our hearts with fear;
Our trembling spirits melt away,
But find no helper near.
3 Still, Lord, thy mercy's rich and free,
And runs an endless round;
A boundless, purifying sea,
Where all our sins are drowned.
4 O send thy pity from on high
With pardon all divine;
Bring now thy gracious spirit nigh,
And make us wholly thine.
5 We humbly mourn our follies past,
Each guilty path deplore;
Resolved, while feeble life shall last,
To tread those paths no more.
1 How oft, alas! this wretched heart
Has wandered from the Lord!
How oft my roving thoughts depart,
Forgetful of his word!
2 Yet sovereign mercy calls, 'Return :'
Dear Lord, and may I come!
My vile ingratitude I mourn;
O take the wanderer home.
3 And canst thou, wilt thou yet forgive,
And bid my crimes remove?
And shall a pardoned rebel live
To speak thy wondrous love?
4 Almighty grace, thy healing power
How glorious, how divine,
That can to life and bliss restore
So vile a heart as mine!
5 Thy pardoning love, so free, so sweet,
Dear Savior, I adore;
O keep me at thy sacred feet,
And let me rove no more.
1 0 THOU, whose tender mercy hears
Contrition's humble sigh;
Whose hand, indulgent, wipes the tears
From sorrow's weeping eye!
2 See, low before thy throne of
grace,
A wretched wanderer mourn;
Hast thou not bid me seek thy face?
Hast thou not said, 'Return?'
3 And shall my guilty fears prevail
To drive me from thy feet?
O let not this dear refuge fail,
This only safe retreat.
4 Absent from thee, my guide, my light!
Without one cheering ray,
Through dangers, fears, and gloomy night,
How desolate my way!
5 O shine on this benighted heart,
With beams of mercy shine;
And let thy healing voice impart
A taste of joys divine.
PRAYER AND DEVOUT EXERCISES.
Heartless Worship an Abomination.
1 GOD is a spirit just and wise,
He sees our inmost mind;
In vain to heaven we raise our cries,
And leave our souls behind.
2 Nothing but truth before his throne
With honor can appear;
The painted hypocrites are known
Through the disguise they wear.
3 Their lifted eyes salute the skies,
Their bending knees the ground;
But God abhors the sacrifice
Where not the heart is found.
4 Lord, search my thoughts, and try my ways,
And make my soul sincere ;
Then shall I stand before thy face,
And find acceptance there.
Forms of Worship vain without Virtue.
1 TH' uplifted eye and bended knee
Are but vain homage, Lord, to thee;
In vain our lips thy praise prolong,
The heart a stranger to the song.
2 Can rites and forms, and flaming zeal,
The breaches of thy precepts heal?
Can fasts and penance reconcile
Thy justice, and obtain thy smile?
3 The pure, the humble, contrite mind,
Thankful, and to thy will resigned,
To thee a nobler offering yields
Than Sheba's groves, or Sharon's fields;
4 Than floods of oil, or costly wine,
Rolling by thousands to thy shrine;
Or than, if to thine altar led,
A first-born son the victim bled.
5 Be just and kind, and humble too,
In all you say, in all you do ;
To men your charity impart,
And love your God with all your heart.'
6 This truth, by ancient prophets given,
Was by thy Son confirmed from heaven;
And, deep engraved, this great command
Doth on eternal pillars stand.
1 WHEREWITH shall I approach the Lord,
And bow before his throne?
O! how procure his kind regard,
And for my guilt atone?
2 Shall altars flame, and victims bleed,
And spicy fumes ascend?
Will these my earnest wish succeed,
And make my God my friend?
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