Lord, how secure my conscience was

Lord, how secure my conscience was,
And felt no inward dread!
I was alive without the law,
And thought my sins were dead.

My hopes of heaven were firm and bright:
But since the precept came
With a convincing power and light,
I find how vile I am.

My guilt appeared but small before,
Till terribly I saw
How perfect, holy, just, and pure,
Was thy eternal law.

Then felt my soul the heavy load,—
My sins revived again;
I had provoked a dreadful God,
And all my hopes were slain.

My God, I cry with every breath
For some kind power to save,
To break the yoke of sin and death,
And thus redeem the slave.