O What an Evil Heart Have I

O what an ev­il heart have I

So cold

and hard

and blind

With sin so rea­dy to com­ply

And cast my God be­hind!

So apt His mer­cy to for­get

So soon dis­solved in ease

So false

so full of all de­ceit

And des­per­ate wick­ed­ness!

Long have I mur­mured to be clean

From all ini­qui­ty

But knew not that I loved my sin

And would not be set free.

Oft when the pleas­ing ill drew nigh

And God fore­showed my fall

I would not from temp­ta­tion fly

Or heed the Spir­it’s call.

His warn­ing voice I would not mind

But turned mine ear away

And lin­ger­ing stood

’till sin should find

And seize its will­ing prey.

Oft have I asked for help

afraid

Lest God my voice should hear

While with de­ceit­ful lips

I said

Th’Abominable Pray­er.

Oft

when He would not let me yield

But stopped me by His grace

I raged from sin to be with­held

And burst from His em­brace.

When af­ter each foul sin­ful fall

I would have all giv­en up;

He would not let me give up all

But forced me still to hope.

Infinite

un­ex­haust­ed love!

Jesus and love are One;

If still to me Thy bow­els move

They are re­strained to none.

If me

e’en me

Thou yet canst spare

Fury is not in Thee;

For all Thy ten­der mer­cies are

If mer­cy is for me.

What shall I do

my God to love

My lov­ing God to praise!

The length

and breadth

and height to prove

And depth of sov­er­eign grace!

Thy sov­er­eign grace to all ex­tends

Immense and un­confined;

From age to age it nev­er ends

It reach­es all man­kind.

Throughout the world its breadth is known

Wide as in­fi­ni­ty

So wide it nev­er passed by one;

Or it had passed by me.

My tres­pass was grown up to Heav­en;

But far above the skies

In Christ abun­dant­ly for­giv­en

I see Thy mer­cies rise!

The depth of all re­deem­ing love

What an­gel tongue can tell?

O may I to the ut­most prove

The gift un­speak­able!

Deeper than hell

it plucked me thence;

Deeper than in­bred sin:

Jesus His love my heart shall cleanse

When Je­sus en­ters in.

Come quick­ly

then

my Lord

and take

Possession of Thine own;

My long­ing heart vouch­safe to make

Thine ev­er­last­ing throne.

Assert Thy claim

re­ceive Thy right

Come quick­ly from above

And sink me to per­fect­ion’s height

The depth of hum­ble love.