Regneration

1 O! let my voice proclaim the joys
My heart has known and felt;
And let my tongue declare the woes
My soul has known by guilt.

2 Long in the paths of sin I trod,
And, in her foulest way,
Provoked a kind and gracious God,
And grieved him day by day.

3 I tried his patience with my crimes,
By days and years of sin;
Resolved to mend in aftertimes,
And wash the leper clean.

4 [I tried, resolved, and toiled, and tugged,
But filthier still I grew;
My darling sins in secret hugged,
Nor how to leave them knew.]

5 But when the Lord his arm made bare,
And took my heart in hand,
Effectual cleansing work was there,
Which I could not withstand.

6 He doomed me in the dust to lie,
In sorrows sharp and long;
Then changed my sadness into joy,
My mourning to a song.

Source: A Selection of Hymns for Public Worship. In four parts (10th ed.) (Gadsby's Hymns) #189