Wesley Corpus

Chief of apostate spirits, I groan My sense of deepest guilt to thee, Of all th' incarnate fiends not one So devilish, or so damn'd as me. I know, t' alleviate my pain, To lessen and remove my load, Impossible it is with man; But thou art the Almighty God. Is there a thing too hard for thee? A case beyond thy mercy's power? An ill thou canst not remedy? A sinner thou canst not restore? Can there a malady be found, By love divine incurable? Or is my spirit's mortal wound, Too deep for thee to search, and heal? Is there on earth a loss too great For all thy fulness to repair? Is there a soul so near the pit, That thou no more canst save it there? My soul in sin so rooted stands, No common miracle can move, I know, my spirit's cure demands Thy whole omnipotence of love. But whether thou hast ever heal'd A spirit so desperate as mine It lies, alas! From me conceal'd In lowest depths of love divine. My feeble heart cannot conceive Such greatness of redeeming power, Yet fain I would, I would believe That thou canst me, ev'n me, restore. Page 78 I hope thou able art to cleanse The worst and foulest sinner me, And suddenly transport me hence, And snatch this moment up to thee. Yet O! I doubt thy gracious will, And scarce to sue for mercy dare, Held on the rack, and tortur'd still With pangs severer than despair. My God, my God, what shall I say, But still my one request repeat! O might I now escape away, And die lamenting at thy feet! O let it not my Lord displease, That still I urge my one request, Languish in pain for lasting ease, And weary long to be at rest. Still art thou silent at my tears? O were thy waves and storms o'erpast! Pardon my sins, remove my fears, And bid me weep, and groan my last. Jesu, in honour of thy name Hope in my end O let me prove, And quickly thee in death proclaim Th' Almighty God of pardning love. Penitential Hymns. Hymn IV.54 O Father of all, On thee let me call, On thee let me wait, 'till uprais'd from my fall: 54A manuscript precursor of this hymn appears in MS Occasional Hymns, 58-60.