The Sinner's self-reflection

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Ah Lord! ah Lord! what have I done

Author: John Mason
Published in 15 hymnals

Representative Text

1 Ah Lord! ah Lord! what have I done?
What will become of me?
What shall I say, what shall I do?
Or whither shall I flee?

2 By wand'ring I have lost myself,
And here I make my moan:
O whither, whither have I stray'd!
Ah! Lord what have I done?

3 Thy candle searches all my rooms,
And now I plainly see,
The num'rous sins of earth and hell
Are summed up in me.

4 The seeds of all the ills that grow,
Are in my garden sown,
And multitudes of them are sprung;
Ah! Lord what have I done?

5 I have been Satan's willing slave,
And his most easy prey:
He was not readier to command
Than I was to obey:

6 Or, if at times he left my soul,
Yet still his works went on:
I was a tempter to myself;
Ah, Lord1 what have I done!

7 I puft at all the threats of heav'n,
And slighted all its charms:
Nor Satan's fetters would I leave
For Christ's inviting arms.

8 I had a soul but priz'd it not;
And now my soul is gone,
My forced cries do pierce the skies;
Ah, Lord! what have I done!

Source: Divine Hymns or Spiritual Songs, for the use of religious assemblies and private Christians: being a collection #CXXVI

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Author: John Mason

Mason, John. The known facts of his life are scanty. He was the son of a Dissenting Minister, and the grandfather of John Mason, the author of A Treatise on Self-Knowledge. He was educated at Strixton School, Northants, and Clare Hall, Cambridge. After taking his M.A., he became Curate of Isham; and in 1668, Vicar of Stantonbury, Bucks. A little more than five years afterwards he was appointed Rector of Water-Stratford. Here he composed the volume containing The Songs of Praise, his paraphrase of The Song of Solomon, and the Poem on Dives and Lazarus, with which Shepherd's Penitential Cries was afterwards bound up. This volume passed through twenty editions. Besides the Songs of Praise, it contains six Penitential Cries by Mason, and it i… Go to person page >

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