Before thee I am nothing but vanity, iniquity, perishing;

Sin has forfeited thy favour,

   stripped me of thy image,

   banished me from thy presence,

   exposed me to the curse of thy law;

I cannot deliver myself, and am in despair.

But a resource is found in thee,

   for without my desert or desire

   thou didst devise an everlasting plan,

   honourable to thy perfections,

   and which angels desired to look into.

And the Word which announces all the glory

     of this goodness

   is nigh me, invites me, beseeches me.

May I, a convinced and self-despairing sinner,

   find Jesus as the power unto salvation,

   his death the centre of all relief,

   the source of all gospel-blessings.

Help me to repair to that cross,

   be crucified to the world by it,

   and in it find deepest humiliation,

   motives to patience and self-denial,

   grace for active benevolence,

   faith to grasp eternal life,

   hope to lift up my head,

   love to bind me for ever

   to him who died and rose for me.

May his shed blood make me

   more thankful for thy mercies,

   more humble under thy correction,

   more zealous in thy service,

   more watchful against temptation,

   more contented in my circumstances,

   more useful to others.