Wesley Corpus

"Be still and know that I am GOD!" 'Tis all I live to know, To feel the virtue of thy blood, And spread its praise below. I wait my vigour to renew, Thine image to retrieve, The veil of outward things pass thro', And gasp in thee to live. I work; and own the labour vain: And thus from works I cease: I strive and see my fruitless pain, Till God create my peace. Fruitless, till thou thyself impart, Must all my efforts prove: They cannot change a sinful heart, They cannot purchase love. I do the thing thy laws enjoin, And then the strife give o'er: To thee I then the whole resign: I trust in means no more. Page 39 I trust in him who stands between The Father's wrath and me: JESU! Thou great eternal mean, I look for all from thee. Thy mercy pleads, thy truth requires, Thy promise calls thee down: Not for the sake of my desires But Oh! Regard thine own! I seek no motive out of thee: Thine own desires fulfil: If now thy bowels yearn on me, On me perform thy will. Doom, if thou canst, to endless pains, And drive me from thy face:20 But if thy stronger love constrains, Let me be sav'd by grace. Waiting for Christ. Unchangeable, Almighty Lord, The true, and merciful, and just, Be mindful of thy gracious word, Wherein thou causest me to trust. 20John Wesley marks these words to be expunged in his personal copy of the 5th edn. (1756). They had been objected to by Thomas Church in 1744. Wesley replied in An Answer to the Rev. Mr. Church's "Remarks", III.4 (Works 9:113-14); and in Principles of a Methodist Farther Explained, II.8 (Works 9:185). Page 40 My weary eyes look out in vain, And long thy saving health to see: But known to thee is all my pain: When wilt thou come, and comfort me! Prisoner of hope, to thee I turn, Thee my strong hold, and only stay: Harden'd in grief, I ever mourn: Why do thy chariot-wheels delay? But shall thy creature ask thee why? No; I retract the eager prayer: Lord, as thou wilt, and not as I; I cannot chuse; thou canst not err.