"With Broken Heart and Contrite Sigh"
                       by Cornelius Elven, 1791-1873
                                 Text From:
                      THE HANDBOOK TO THE LUTHERAN HYMNAL
            (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1942)p.231



        1. With broken heart and contrite sigh,
        A trembling sinner, Lord, I cry.
        Thy pardoning grace is rich and free,--
        O God, be merciful to me!

        2. I smite upon my troubled breast,
        With deep and conscious guilt opprest:
        Christ and His cross my only plea,--
        O God, be merciful to me!

        3. Far off I stand with tearful eyes
        Nor dare uplift them to the skies;
        But Thou dost all my anguish see,--
        O God, be merciful to me!

        4. Nor alms nor deeds that I have done
        Can for a single sin atone.
        To Calvary alone I flee,--
        O God, be merciful to me!

        5. And when, redeemed from sin and hell,
        With all the ransomed throng I dwell,
        My raptured song shall ever be,
        O God, be merciful to me!

        

        Notes:
        Hymn #323 from _The Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal_
        Text: Luke 18:13
        Author: Cornelius Elven, 1852
        Composer: Jeremiah Clarke, 1707
        Tune: "St. Luke"