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From pois'nous errors, pleasing cheats

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1 From poisonous errors, pleasing cheats,
And gilded baits of sin,
Which, swallowed as delicious meats,
Infect and rot within;

2 Lord, pardon a backslider base,
Returning from the dead;
Ashamed to show his shameful face,
Or lift his guilty head.

3 Ah! what a fool have I been made!
Or rather made myself;
That mariner’s mad part I played,
That sees, yet strikes the shelf.

4 How weak must be this wicked heart,
Which, boasting much to know,
Made light of all thy bitter smart
And wantoned with thy woe!

5 Monstrous ingratitude I own,
Well worthy wrath divine;
Can blood such horrid crimes atone?
Yes, blood so rich as thine.

6 Then, since thy mercy makes me melt,
My baseness I deplore;
Regard the grief and shame I’ve felt,
And daily make them more.

Source: A Selection of Hymns for Public Worship. In four parts (10th ed.) (Gadsby's Hymns) #860

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Author: J. Hart

Hart, Joseph, was born in London in 1712. His early life is involved in obscurity. His education was fairly good; and from the testimony of his brother-in-law, and successor in the ministry in Jewin Street, the Rev. John Hughes, "his civil calling was" for some time "that of a teacher of the learned languages." His early life, according to his own Experience which he prefaced to his Hymns, was a curious mixture of loose conduct, serious conviction of sin, and endeavours after amendment of life, and not until Whitsuntide, 1757, did he realize a permanent change, which was brought about mainly through his attending divine service at the Moravian Chapel, in Fetter Lane, London, and hearing a sermon on Rev. iii. 10. During the next two years ma… Go to person page >

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