“Father, Forgive,” the Savior Said

Fa­ther

for­give

the Sav­ior said

They know not what they do;

His heart was moved when thus He prayed

For me

my friends

and you.

He saw

that as the Jews abused

And cru­ci­fied His flesh

So He

by us

would be re­fused

And cru­ci­fied afresh.

Through love of sin

we long were prone

To act as Sa­tan bid;

But now

with grief and shame we own

We knew not what we did.

We knew not the de­sert of sin

Nor whom we thus de­fied;

Nor where our guil­ty souls had been

If Je­sus had not died.

We knew not what a law we broke

How ho­ly

just and pure!

Nor what a God we dared pro­voke

But thought our­selves se­cure.

But Je­sus all our guilt fore­saw

And shed His pre­cious blood

To satisfy the ho­ly law

And make our peace with God.

My sin

dear Sav­ior

made Thee bleed

Yet didst Thou pray for me!

I knew not what I did

in­deed

When ig­norant of Thee.