Show Pity, Lord; O Lord, Forgive

Show pity, Lord; O Lord, forgive;
Let a repenting rebel live:

Show pity, Lord; O Lord, forgive;
Let a repenting rebel live:
Are not thy mercies large and free?
May not a sinner trust in thee?

My lips with shame my sins confess
Against thy law, against thy grace!
Lord, should thy judgment be severe,
I am condemned, but thou art clear.

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.

Behold, I fall before thy face;
My only refuge is thy grace;
No outward form can make me clean,
The leprosy lies deep within.

Yet save a trembling sinner, Lord,
Whose hope, still hovering round thy word,
Would light on some sweet promise there,
Some sure support against despair.

Psalm li

Isaac Watts