O HOPE OF EVERY CONTRITE HEART

"A broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise." Psalms 51:17

Words: Bernard of Clairvaux; translated from Latin to English by Edward Caswall, 1849. Though found in some hymnals as a separate hymn, these words are also part of Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee.
Music: "St. Agnes," John Bacchus Dykes, 1866.

O hope of every contrite heart,
O joy of all the meek,
To those who fall, how kind Thou art!
How good to those who seek!

But what to those who find?
Ah this - Nor tongue nor pen can show;
The love of Jesus, what it is
None but His loved ones show.

Jesus, our only joy be Thou,
As Thou our prize will be;
Jesus, be Thou our glory now,
And through eternity.