James Montgomery

Self-Knowledge.

Thine eye, Lord God, alone can see

The soul through every secret part;

The mystery of iniquity

Hid in the hollow of man's heart.

Myself unto myself reveal,

Light let me see in Thy pure light;

The eye of unbelief unseal,

Change doubt to faith, and faith to sight:

By inward vision to discern

The misery of my fall'n estate,

And from that sad disclosure learn

Life's hardest lesson, ere too late: --

Life's hardest lesson, but its best!

The source of all my ills to trace

Through the dark windings of my breast,

Or in the world's deceitful face.

How long, how far on pilgrimage

To Zion have I feign'd to go,

Yet went astray at every stage,

Snared or smit down by every foe!

Now, a poor way-worn traveller,

With slower speed, and failing strength

At every step I fear to err,

And be a cast-away at length.

Thou Light, that lightenest every one

Who toils through this bewildering path,

Shine on my soul, that I may shun

The broad, dark, downward road to wrath.

So let that narrow path be mine,

Which, level as the morning ray,

Like it, shall upward tend, and shine,

From earth's faint dawn to Heaven's full day.