671    148th     John Berridge
Approaching a Holy God. Ezra 9. 6; Ps. 51. 2-10

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.