Classic Poem

O GOD the holy and the just,
Look not with anger's flashing eye.
Behold me prostrate in the dust,
Hear a lamenting sinner's sigh.

My sins like ocean's sands abound,
My sins are stain'd with crimson hue:
Their burden sinks me to the ground,
To heav'n I dare not lift my view.

Above the fowls that swim in air,
Above the beasts which graze below;
Reason, thy noble gift, I share;
By reason taught, thy laws I know.

How blest! if I to reason's voice
Had yielded an obeying ear:
Blest! if thy will had been my choice,
Thou my delight, and thou my fear.

But oh! the passions in my frame,
Inwrought by thee for wisest end,
With blindfold violence o'ercame
Reason, and conscience reason's friend.

In reason's aid thy gospel strove,
I heeded not, but onward ran:
The ways of ruin were my love,
O what a stubborn thing is man!

Lord, I am worthy to receive
The dreadful sentence, “Thou shalt die:”
But ere the fatal stroke thou give,
Turn, turn thy face to Calvary.