Knocking at the Door of Mercy

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Lord, at thy feet we sinners lie

Author: Simon Browne
Published in 94 hymnals

Representative Text

1 Lord, at thy feet we sinners lie,
And knock at mercy's door;
With heavy heart and downcast eye,
Thy favor we implore.

2 [On us, the vast extent display
Of thy forgiving love;
Take all our heinous guilt away,
This heavy load remove.

3 We sink, with all this weight oppress'd,
Sing down to death and hell;
Oh, give our troubled spirits rest,
Our num'rous fears dispel.]

4 'Tis mercy, mercy we implore,
We would thy bowels move;
Thy grace is an exhaustless store,
And thou thyself art love.

5 Oh, for thy own, for Jesu's sake,
Our many sins forgive;
Thy grace our rocky hearts can break,
And breaking soon relieve.

6 Thus melt us down, thus make us bend,
And thy dominion own;
Nor let a rival more pretend
To repossess thy throne.

Source: The Hartford Selection of Hymns: from the most approved authors: to which are added a number never before published (2nd ed.) #CXXXIII

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Author: Simon Browne

Simon Browne was born at Shepton Mallet, Somersetshire, about 1680. He began to preach as an "Independent" before he was twenty years of age, and was soon after settled at Portsmouth. In 1716, he became pastor in London. In 1723, he met with some misfortunes, which preyed upon his mind, and produced that singular case of monomania, recorded in the text-books of Mental Philosophy; he thought that God had "annihilated in him the thinking substance, and utterly divested him of consciousness." "Notwithstanding," says Toplady, "instead of having no soul, he wrote, reasoned, and prayed as if he had two." He died in 1732. His publications number twenty-three, of which some are still in repute. --Annotations of the Hymnal, Charles Hutchins,… Go to person page >

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First Line:	Lord, at thy feet we sinners lie
Title:	Knocking at the Door of Mercy
Author:	Simon Browne
Meter:	8.6.8.6
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

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Notes

Lord, at Thy feet a sinner lies. S. Browne. [Lent.] Appeared in the first edition of his Hymns and Spiritual Songs, &c, 1720, No. 15, in 6 stanzas of 4 lines, and entitled “Sinners suing for mercy." In Rippon's Selection, 1787, No. 235, it was altered to "Lord, at Thy feet ice sinners lie” and this form has been continued to modern hymnals, as in Baptist Psalms & Hymns, 1858 and 1880, No. 384. Its use is somewhat extensive.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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