Long Have I Seemed to Serve Thee, Lord

Long have I seemed to serve Thee

Lord

With un­avail­ing pain:

I fasted

prayed

and read Thy Word

And heard it preached in vain.

Oft did I with th’as­sem­bly join

And near Thine al­tar drew;

A form of god­li­ness was mine

The pow­er I nev­er knew.

I rest­ed in the out­ward law;

Nor knew its deep de­sign:

The length and breadth I nev­er saw

The height of love di­vine.

To please Thee thus

at length I see

I vain­ly hoped and strove:

For what are out­ward things to Thee

Unless they spring from love?

I see the per­fect law re­quires

Truth in the in­ward parts:

Our full con­sent

our whole de­sires

Our un­di­vid­ed hearts.

But I of means have made my boast

Of means an id­ol made;

The spir­it in the let­ter lost

The sub­stance in the shade.

Where am I now

or what my hope?

What can my weak­ness do?

Jesus! to Thee my soul looks up:

’Tis Thou must make it new.