I felt myself vile as he told me my sins;
That he knew them I could not well doubt it;
For it came in my head, what to you I had said,
And I thought you had told all about it.
When I heard what my Saviour had suffer’d, I wept;
How he groan’d and he died on the tree;
But O, the blest hour! for the word came with power,
And I knew that he suffer’d for me.
Thus God has dealt with me, and thus has been pleased
His great goodness and grace to impart;
It was terror and dread, that first bowed down my head,
But ’twas mercy that melted my heart.
Every week from my wages a sixpence I spare,
A Bible to buy, for I need it;
And when time I can spare, to a friend I repair,
Who has promised to teach me to read it.
And you, Sir, have been a most kind friend to me:
This I own, though I cannot repay;
But yet there is one, who this kindness will own
At the last and the great judgment day.
For myself, as becomes a poor, weak, sinful man,
I will pray for support from on high;
To walk in God’s ways, my Saviour to praise,
And to trust in his grace till I die.
And though poor, and unwise in the ways of the world,
I believe in the truth of God’s word,
That true riches are they, which will not pass away,
And true wisdom, the fear of the Lord.
London: Printed by Augustus Applegath & Edward Cowper,
Duke-street, Stamford-street, and sold by F. Collins, No. 14,
Newgate-street; and Evans and Sons, 42, Long-lane, Smithfield.