John Wesley Harding – My Gracious, Loving Lord lyrics

1 MY gracious, loving Lord,
To thee what shall I say?
Well may I tremble at thy word,
And scarce presume to pray!
Ten thousand wants have I;
Alas! I all things want;
And thou hast bid me always cry.
And never, never faint.

2 Yet, Lord, well might I fear,
Fear even to ask thy grace;
So oft have I, alas! drawn near.
And mocked thee to thy face:
With all pollutions stained,
Thy hallowed courts I trod,
Thy name and temple I profaned,
And dared to call thee God!

3 Nigh with my lips I drew,
My lips were all unclean;
Thee with my heart I never knew.
My heart was full of sin;
Far from the living Lord,
As far as hell from heaven,
Thy purity I still abhorred,
Nor looked to be forgiven.

4 My nature I obeyed,
My own desires pursued;
And still a den of thieves I made
The hallowed house of God.
The worship he approves
To him I would not pay;
My selfish ends and creature-loves
Had stole my heart away.

5 A goodly, formal saint
I long appeared in sight,
By self and Satan taught to paint
My tomb, my nature, white.
The Pharisee within
Still undisturbed remained
The strong man, armed with guilt of sin,
Safe in his palace reigned.

6 But O! the jealous God
In my behalf came down;
Jesus himself the stronger showed.
And claimed me for his own:
My spirit he alarmed,
And brought into distress;
He shook and bound the strong man armed
In his self-righteousness.

7 Faded my virtuous show,
My form without the power;
The sin-convincing Spirit blew,
And blasted every flower:
My mouth was stopped, and shame
Covered my guilty face;
I fell on the atoning Lamb,
And I was saved by grace.