Love to Christ

Omniscient Lord, before whose awful eye,
All undisguis'd, thy creatures' actions lie;
Thou seest my heart through every winding maze,
Each secret thought thy piercing glance surveys.
My saviour God — and can I call thee mine?
Can I each idol-vanity resign?
Can I to thee appeal without a fear,
Thou know'st I love thee with a flame sincere?
Alas! I doubt my vile deceitful heart;
Back from my lips the half-form'd accents start:
A thousand meaner objects share my love,
From thee, from thee my foolish passions rove;
My conscious soul shrinks at the solemn test,
And yet I fain would hope, I love thee best!
I fain would hope! unworthy, base return!
Can it be love, and yet so faintly burn?
Didst thou forsake thy radiant courts on high?
And freely lay thy dazzling glories by?
Assume the human form, and wear the chains
Of guilty rebels doom'd to endless pains?
Bear all our sins, remove the ponderous load
Of vengeance due from an incensed God?
And bleeding, dying on the cross, atone
For mortal crimes in agonies unknown?
Touch'd with the melting pow'r of love divine,
Can I refuse this worthless heart of mine?
See, dearest Lord, obedient to thy call,
Asham'd, repentant, at thy feet I fall,
And would resign myself, my soul, my all!
O let this stubborn heart, this flinty rock,
Soften'd by heav'nly love, with sorrow broke,
Bath'd in the fountain of thy bleeding veins,
Be fully cleans'd from all its guilty stains;
Till I can say, without a rising fear,
Thou, who know'st all things, know'st my love sincere.