Lord, I Am Vile, Conceived in Sin

Lord

I am vile

con­ceived in sin

And born un­ho­ly and un­clean;

Sprung from the man whose guil­ty fall

Corrupts the race

and taints us all.

Soon as we draw our in­fant breath

The seeds of sin grow up for death;

Thy law de­mands a per­fect heart

But we’re de­filed in ev­ery part.

Great God

cre­ate my heart anew

And form my spir­it pure and true;

O make me wise be­times to spy

My dan­ger and my re­me­dy.

Behold

I fall be­fore Thy face;

My on­ly re­fuge is Thy grace;

No out­ward forms can make me clean;

The le­pro­sy lies deep with­in.

No bleed­ing bird

nor bleed­ing beast

Nor hys­sop branch

nor sprink­ling priest

Nor run­ning brook

nor flood

nor sea

Can wash the dis­mal stain away.

Jesus

my God

Thy blood alone

Hath pow­er suf­fi­cient to atone;

Thy blood can make me white as snow;

No Jew­ish types could cleanse me so.

While guilt dis­turbs and breaks my peace

Nor flesh nor soul hath rest or ease;

Lord

let me hear Thy par­don­ing voice

And make my brok­en bones re­joice.