The Burdened Sinner

I

Ah! what can I do,
Or where be secure?
If justice pursue,
What heart can endure?
The heart breaks asunder,
Though hard as a stone,
When God speaks in thunder,
And makes himself known.

II

With terror I read
My sins heavy score,
The number exceed
The sands on the shore:
Guilt makes me unable
To stand or to flee;
So Cain murder’d Abel,
And trembled like me.

III

Each sin, like his blood,
With a terrible cry,
Calls loudly on God
To strike from on high:
Nor can my repentance,
Extorted by fear,
Reverse the just sentence;
’Tis just, though severe.

IV

The case is too plain,
I had my own choice;
Again, and again,
I slighted his voice⁠—
His warnings neglected,
His patience abused,
His gospel rejected,
His mercy refused.

V

And must I then go
For ever to dwell
In torments and woe
With devils in hell?
Oh where is the Saviour
I scorn’d in times past?
His word in my favour
Would save me at last.

VI

Lord Jesus, on thee
I venture to call,
Oh look upon me
The vilest of all!
For whom didst thou languish,
And bleed on the tree?
Oh pity my anguish,
And say, ’Twas for thee.”

VII

A case such as mine
Will honour thy power;
All hell will repine,
All heaven adore;
If in condemnation
Strict justice takes place,
It shines in salvation
More glorious through grace.