1 O Lord turne not away thy face
From him that lyes prostrate:
Lamenting sore his sinfull life
Before thy mercy gate,
2 Which gate thou openest wide to those,
that doe lament their sinne:
Shut not that gate against me Lord,
But let me enter in.
3 I need not to confesse my life,
I am sure thou canst tell:
What I have been, and what I am,
I know thou knowest it well.
4 O Lord thou knowst what things be past
And eke the things that be:
Thou knowest also what is to come,
Nothing is hid from thee.
5 Before the heavens and earth wer made
Thou knowest what things were then,
As all things else that have beene since,
Among the sonnes of men.
6 And can the things that I have done
Be hidden from thee then?
Nay,nay thou knowest them all O Lord,
Where they were done and when.
7 Wherefore with teares I come to thee
To beg and to intreat,
Even as the childe that hath done ill,
And feareth to be beat.
8 So come I to thy mercy gate,
Where mercy doth abound:
Requiring mercy for my sinne,
To heale my deadly wound.
9 O Lord, I need not to repeat
What I doe beg or crave:
Thou knowest O Lord before I aske
The thing that I would have.
10 Mercy good Lord, mercy I aske,
This is the totall summe:
For mercy Lord is all my sute,
Lord let thy mercy come.