I left the God of truth and light,
I left the God who gave me breath,
To wan­der in the wilds of night,
And per­ish in the snares of death.

Sweet was His ser­vice, and His yoke
Was light and ea­sy to be borne;
Through all His bonds of love I broke,
I cast away His gifts with scorn.

I danced in fol­ly’s gid­dy maze,
And drank the sea, and chased the wind;
But false­hood lurked in all her ways,
Her laugh­ter left re­morse be­hind.

I dreamed of bliss in plea­sure’s bow­ers,
While pil­low­ing ros­es stayed my head;
But ser­pents hissed among the flow­ers;
I woke, and thorns were all my bed.

In rich­es when I sought for joy,
And placed in sor­did gains my trust,
I found that gold was all al­loy,
And world­ly trea­sure fleet­ing dust.

I wooed am­bi­tion, climbed the pole,
And shone among the stars—but fell,
Headlong, in all my pride of soul,
Like Lu­ci­fer, from Heav’n to hell.

Heart-broken, friend­less, poor, cast down,
Where shall the chief of sin­ners fly,
Almighty Ven­geance, from Thy frown?
Eternal Jus­tice, from Thine eye?

Lo, through the gloom of guil­ty fears,
My faith dis­cerns a dawn of grace;
The Sun of Right­eous­ness ap­pears
In Je­sus’ re­con­cil­ing face.

My suf­fer­ing, slain, and ris­en Lord,
In sore dis­tress I turn to Thee;
I claim ac­cept­ance on Thy word;
My God, my God, for­sake not me.

Prostrate be­fore the mer­cy seat,
I dare not, if I would, des­pair;
None ev­er per­ished at Thy feet,
And I will lie for ev­er there.