Wesley Corpus

Perfect then the work begun, And make the sinner whole, All thy will on me be done, My body, spirit, soul: Still preserve me safe from harms, And kindly for thy patient care, Take me, Jesu, to thy80 arms, And keep me ever there. Groaning for Redemption.81 Part I. Lord, I confess my sins to thee, My sins beyond expression great, Fast bound in sin and misery, My spirit faints beneath the weight, And struggles to throw off the load, But cannot, cannot come to God. O how shall I the anguish bear Of inbred sin's envenom'd dart? The mischief hence I cannot tear, 'Tis enter'd deep into my heart, Its poison drinks my spirits up, And quenches my last spark of hope. 80"Thy" changed to "thine" in 2nd edn. (1745) and following. 81John Wesley ascribes this hymn to Charles in Some Remarks on Hill's "Review" (1772). Page 104 O wretched man, what must I do? I neither can resist nor82 fly; Hell, earth, and sin my soul pursue, I cannot find a83 Saviour nigh: Unhappy I shall one day fall, Shall perish by the hand of Saul. Me from perdition what can save! Justly my God his help denies: No evil I abhor, and have No fear of God before my eyes; Self-harden'd in my lost estate, All sin I love, all good I hate. Whither, ah whither shall I go? The snares of death my soul surround, The floods of wickedness o'erflow, And desp'rate is my spirit's wound, The worm that never dies I feel, Arrested by the pains of hell. O could I but escape away, And steal into the silent tomb, Defraud the lion of his prey, And at my latest hour o'ercome, That hour I now would present have, Would now rejoice to find a grave. O God, behold my troubled breast, Yet once again I thee implore, Indulge me in my last request, And let me die, and sin no more, Now, let me now lay down my head, From pain, and sin forever freed.