What abounding grace!

(Stephen Tyng, "Practical Meditations")

"But where sin abounded--grace did
 much more abound." Romans 5:20

What abundant grace has He displayed!

His forgiveness, how full and free it has been!
No sin remaining.

His justification, how complete!
No defect unforgiven.

His faithfulness, how unfailing!
No hour of my pilgrimage unwatched.

His forbearance, how tender!
No error of my life remembered.

His compassion, how affectionate!
No sorrow of my heart unconsoled.

His recompense, how abundant!
More than I have power to conceive.

What abounding grace has been thus
displayed to a creature so completely vile;
so destitute of all ground of hope or claim
in himself!

What an amount of guilt has He pardoned!
It is impossible to overstate this.
My original debasement,
my wayward youth,
my rejection of His love,
my rebellion against His authority,
my forgetfulness of His goodness,
my backslidings from His way,
my inconsistent profession,
my vain and sinful example,
the wickedness of my unconverted state,
the errors of my renewed state.
Alas! every day and every act brings up its
separate testimony. And all condemn me!

But He has freely pardoned!

He has blotted out this whole fearful record!

He will remember it no more!

"But where sin abounded--grace did
 much more abound." Romans 5:20