Approaching a Holy God

1. How shall I come to thee,
O God, who holy art,
And cannot evil see,
But with a loathing heart?
I am defiled throughout by sin,
And by my very birth unclean.

2. Soon as my heart could beat,
It drank in various woe;
Pride, lust, and self-deceit;
Through all its channels flow;
A captive born, a child of earth,
It knows and craves no higher birth.

3. From this polluted spring
All filthy waters rise;
From this diseasèd thing
I date my maladies;
My heart, a most degenerate root,
Produces only cankered fruit.

4. And what can wash me clean
But Jesus’ precious blood?
This only purgeth sin,
And bringeth nigh to God;
Lord, wash my sores, and heal them too,
And all my leprosy subdue.

5. Thy heavenly image draw
Upon my panting heart,
And well engrave thy law
Upon the inward part;
My soul in mercy upward raise,
And teach me how to love and praise.

J. BERRIDGE