O Thou, My Soul, Forget No More

O thou, my soul, forget no more
The Friend Who all thy misery bore;
Let every idol be forgot,
But, O my soul, forget Him not.

Jesus for thou a body takes,
Thy guilt assumes, thy fetters breaks,
Discharging all thy dreadful debt;
And canst thou e’er such love forget?

Renounce thy works and ways, with grief,
And fly to this most sure relief;
Nor Him forget, who left His throne,
And for thy life gave up His own.

Infinite truth and mercy shine,
In Him, and He Himself is thine:
And canst thou, then, with sin beset,
Such charms, such matchless charms, forget?

Ah! no—till life itself depart,
His Name shall cheer and warm my heart;
And lisping this, from earth I’ll rise;
And join the chorus of the skies.

Ah! no—when all things else expire,
And perish in the general fire,
This Name all others shall survive,
And through eternity shall live.

Author: James George Deck

Year: 1842

This hymn is commonly attributed to James George Deck (1802–1884), an Irish-born Brethren hymn writer. It first appeared in his 1842 collection Hymns for the Poor of the Flock. Some later collections list it anonymously or under 'Unknown,' but the majority of hymnological sources credit Deck.