Hymns

Not What My Hands Have Done

Words: Horatius Bonar · Music: Arthur Sullivan, George W. Martin · 1861

Verse 1
Not what my hands have done
can save my guilty soul;
not what my toiling flesh has borne
can make my spirit whole.
Not what I feel or do
can give me peace with God;
not all my prayers and sighs and tears
can bear my awful load.

Verse 2
Thy work alone, O Christ,
can ease this weight of sin;
thy blood alone, O Lamb of God,
can give me peace within.
Thy love to me, O God,
not mine, O Lord, to thee,
can rid me of this dark unrest,
and set my spirit free.

Verse 3
Thy grace alone, O God,
to me can pardon speak;
thy pow'r alone, O Son of God,
can this sore bondage break.
No other work, save thine,
no other blood will do;
no strength, save that which is divine,
can bear me safely through.

Verse 4
I bless the Christ of God;
I rest on love divine;
and with unfalt'ring lip and heart,
I call this Savior mine.
His cross dispels each doubt;
I bury in his tomb
each thought of unbelief and fear,
each ling'ring shade of gloom.

Verse 5
I praise the God of grace;
I trust his truth and might;
he calls me his, I call him mine,
my God, my joy, my light.
'Tis he who saveth me,
and freely pardon gives;
I love because he loveth me,
I live because he lives.

Words: Horatius Bonar, 1861, alt. | Music: George W. Martin, 1862; harm. Arthur Sullivan, 1874

Isaiah 64; John 1; Romans 8; Galatians 2; Ephesians 1; Ephesians 2; Philippians 3; 1 John 1; 1 John 4

Atonement · God, Love of · Humility · Jesus, Adoration of · Jesus, Death of