The vanity of mere formality.
LONG have I seem’d to serve thee, Lord,
With unavailing pain;
Fasted, and pray’d, and read thy word,
And heard it preach’d in vain.
2 Oft did I with the assembly join,
And near thy altar drew:
A form of godliness was mine,—
The power, I never knew.
3 I rested in the outward law,
Nor knew its deep design:
The length and breadth, I never saw,
And height, of love divine.
4 To please thee, thus at length I see,
Vainly I hoped and strove;
For what are outward things to thee,
Unless they spring from love?
5 I see the perfect law requires
Truth in the inward parts;
Our full consent, our whole desires,
Our undivided hearts.
6 But I of means have made my boast;
Of means an idol made:
The spirit in the letter lost,—
The substance, in the shade.
7 Where am I now, or what my hope?
What can my weakness do?
Jesus, to thee my soul looks up:
’Tis thou must make it new.
Charles Wesley
Methodist Episcopal hymnal (1870 edition)
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