Not What My Hands Have Done

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.

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.

I bless the Christ of God; I rest on love divine;

And with unfaltering 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 lingering shade of gloom.

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.

Lyrics: Horatius Bonar, 1861

Tune: George William Martin, 1862