Whence Shall My Tears Begin?

Whence shall my tears be­gin?

What first-fruits shall I bear

Of ear­nest sor­row for my sin?

Or how my woes de­clare?

O Thou! the mer­ci­ful and gra­cious One

Forgive the foul trans­gress­ions I have done.

With Ad­am I have vied

Yea

passed him

in my fall;

And I am nak­ed now

by pride

And lust made bare of all;

Of Thee

O God

and that ce­les­ti­al band

And all the glo­ry of the pro­mised land.

No earth­ly Eve be­guiled

My bo­dy in­to sin:

A spi­ri­tu­al temp­tress smiled

Concupiscence with­in:

Unbridled pass­ion grasped the un­hal­lowed sweet:

Most bit­ter—ev­er bit­ter—was the meat.

If Ad­am’s right­eous doom

Because he dared trans­gress

Thy one de­cree

lost Ed­en’s bloom

And Ed­en’s love­li­ness:

What re­com­pense

O Lord

must I ex­pect

Who all my life Thy quick­en­ing laws ne­glect?

By mine own act

like Cain

A mur­der­er was I made:

By mine own act my soul was slain

When Thou wast dis­ob­eyed:

And lusts each day are quick­ened

war­ring still

Against Thy grace with ma­ny a deed of ill.

Thou formed’st me of clay

O heav’n­ly Pot­ter! Thou

In flesh­ly ves­ture didst ar­ray

With life and breath en­dow.

Thou who didst make

didst ran­som

and dost know

To Thy rep­ent­ant crea­ture pi­ty show!

My guilt for ven­geance cries;

But yet Thou par­don­est all

And whom Thou lov’st Thou dost chas­tise

And mourn’st for them that fall:

Thou

as a Fa­ther

mark’st our tears and pain

And wel­com­est the pro­di­gal again.

I lie be­fore Thy door

O turn me not away!

Nor in mine old age give me o’er

To Sa­tan for a prey!

But ere the end of life and term of grace

Thou mer­ci­ful! my ma­ny sins ef­face!

The priest be­held

and passed

The way he had to go:

A care­less glance the Le­vite cast

And left me to my woe:

But Thou

O Je­su

Ma­ry’s Son

con­sole

Draw nigh

and suc­cor me

and make me whole!

Thou spot­less Lamb di­vine

Who tak­est sins away

Remove

re­move

the load that mine

Upon my con­sci­ence lay:

And

of Thy ten­der mer­cy

grant Thou me

To find re­mis­sion of ini­qui­ty.