’Tis a point I long to know

The words

1. 1

   Stanza 1. ’Tis a point I long to know,Oft it causes anxious thought;Do I love the LORD, or no?Am I his, or am I not?

2. 2

   Stanza 2. If I love, why am I thus?Why this dull and lifeless frame?Hardly, sure, can they be worse,Who have never heard his name!

3. 3

   Stanza 3. Could my heart so hard remain,Prayer a task and burden prove;Every trifle give me pain,If I knew a Savior’s love?

4. 4

   Stanza 4. When I turn my eyes within,All is dark, and vain, and wild;Filled with unbelief and sin,Can I deem myself a child?

5. 5

   Stanza 5. If I pray, or hear, or read,Sin is mixed with all I do;You that love the LORD indeed,Tell me, Is it thus with you?

6. 6

   Stanza 6. Yet I mourn my stubborn will,Find my sin, a grief, and thrall;Should I grieve for what I feel,If I did not love at all?

7. 7

   Stanza 7. Could I joy his saints to meet,Choose the ways I once abhorred,Find, at times, the promise sweet,If I did not love the LORD?

8. 8

   Stanza 8. Lord decide the doubtful case!Thou who art thy people’s sun;Shine upon thy work of grace,If it be indeed begun.

9. 9

   Stanza 9. Let me love thee more and more,If I love at all, I pray;If I have not loved before,Help me to begin today.

Olney Hymns (1779), Book 1, Hymn 119. John Newton. Public domain. CCEL transcription with modernized spelling. www.praylock.com/olney-hymns/1-119