1 I love the volume of Thy Word:
What light and joy these leaves afford
To souls benighted and distrest!
Thy precepts guide my doubtful way;
Thy fear forbids my feet to stray;
Thy promise leads my heart to rest.
2 From the discoveries of Thy Law
The perfect rules of life I draw;
These are my study and delight:
Not honey so invites the taste,
Nor gold that hath the furnace passed
Appears so pleasing to the sight.
3 Thy threatenings wake my slumbering eyes,
And warn me where my danger lies;
But 'tis Thy blessed Gospel, Lord,
That makes my guilty conscience clean,
Converts my soul, subdues my sin,
And gives a free, but large reward.
4 Who knows the errors of his thoughts?
My God, forgive my secret faults,
And from presumptuous sins restrain
Accept my poor attempts of praise,
That I have read Thy Book of grace
And book of nature not in vain.
Source: Church Book: for the use of Evangelical Lutheran congregations #308