Wesley Corpus

Page 76 Part II. Jesu, thou knowst my simpleness, My faults are not conceal'd from thee, A sinner in my last distress, To thy dear wounds I fain would flee, And never never thence depart, Close shelter'd in thy loving heart. How shall I find the living way, Lost, and confus'd, and dark, and blind; Ah! Lord, my soul is gone astray, Ah! Shepherd, seek my soul, and find, And in thy59 arms of mercy take, And bring the weary wanderer back. Weary and sick of sin I am, I hate it, Lord, and yet I love: When wilt thou rid me of my shame, When wilt thou all my load remove, Destroy the fiend of inbred sin, And speak the word of power, "Be clean!" My Jesus, why dost thou delay An helpless dying soul to heal? What shall I to my Jesus say? Dost thou not all my sufferings feel? Ah! Tell me, if unmov'd thou art? How dost thou find it in thy heart? What means this struggling in my breast, If thine is steel'd against my prayer? If thou art deaf to my request, Why do I groan my sin to bear? Surely it is thy Spirit's groan, I do not grieve, or weep alone. 59"Thy" changed to "thine" in 2nd edn. (1745) only. Page 77 I feel that thou would'st have me live, And waitest now thy grace to shew, When I am willing to receive The grace, I all thy life shall know, And thou art striving now with me, To get thyself the victory. O Lord, if I at last discern, That I am sin, and thou art love, If now o'er me thy bowels yearn, Give me a token from above, And conquer my rebellious will, And bid my murmering heart, "Be still." Sin only let me not commit, (Sin never can advance thy praise) And lo! I lay me at thy feet, And wait unwearied all my days, Till my appointed time shall come, And thou shalt call thine exile home. Ah! Tell me, that I shall not sin, Assur'd of this, I ask no more, The kingdom when thou wilt, bring in, Thine image as thou wilt restore, But do not suffer sin to reign, Ah! Do not let me sin again.60