Lord, how secure my conscience was

1Lord, how secure my conscience was,
And felt no inward dread!
I was alive without the law,
And thought my sins were dead.

2My hopes of bliss were firm and bright;
But since the precept came
With a convincing power and light,
I find how vile I am.

3My guilt appeared but small before,
Till terribly I saw
How perfect, holy, just, and pure,
Was thy eternal law.

4Then felt my soul the heavy load,—
My sins revived again;
I had provoked a dreadful God,
And all my hopes were slain.

5I'm sold under sin, and dead
To all that's good and just;
Tor some power to save,
To break the yoke of sin and death,
And thus redeem the slave.