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| JESUS! why dost Thou love me so? | |
| What hast Thou seen in me | |
| To make my happiness so great, | |
| So dear a joy to Thee? | |
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| Wert Thou not God, I then might think | 5 |
| Thou hadst no eye to read | |
| The badness of that selfish heart, | |
| For which Thine own did bleed. | |
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| But Thou art God, and knowest all; | |
| Dear Lord! Thou knowest me; | 10 |
| And yet Thy knowledge hinders not | |
| Thy love’s sweet liberty. | |
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| Ah, how Thy grace hath wooed my soul | |
| With persevering wiles! | |
| Now give me tears to weep; for tears | 15 |
| Are deeper joy than smiles. | |
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| Each proof renewed of Thy great love | |
| Humbles me more and more, | |
| And brings to light forgotten sins, | |
| And lays them at my door. | 20 |
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| The more I love Thee, Lord! the more | |
| I hate my own cold heart; | |
| The more Thou woundest me with love, | |
| The more I feel the smart. | |
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| What shall I do, then, dearest Lord! | 25 |
| Say, shall I fly from Thee, | |
| And hide my poor unloving self | |
| Where Thou canst never see? | |
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| Or shall I pray that Thy dear love | |
| To me might not be given? | 30 |
| Ah, no! love must be pain on earth, | |
| If it be bliss in Heaven. | |
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