Wesley Corpus

Beyond the world and Satan's power I wish'd for wings to fly, And languish'd for the welcome hour, And groan'd and gasp'd to die: Struggled to give my spirit back, That I might sin no more, Myself impatient to forsake, And reach the happy shore. Those longings were they not sincere? And flow'd they not from thee? Why am I then entangled here In sin and misery? Ah! Wherefore didst thou let me live To see this woeful day, Again thy gracious Spirit to grieve, Again to fall away? But shall my bold presumption dare Arraign the God of grace? Mercy, and truth thy dealings are, And righteous all thy ways. For me, my stubborn will to bow, What couldst thou more have done? The fault, (if yet I know not how,) Is all in me alone. O'erwhelm'd again with guilty shame With sins redoubled load, Whom have I but myself to blame? I must acquit my God. I wander o'er thy judgments' maze, And cry in painful doubt, Unsearchable are all thy ways, And past my finding out! Page 86 So be it then, I sink into The fathomless abyss, If Christ at last his mercy shew, And whisper I am his; One ray of heavenly light impart, Before I hence remove, And speak himself into my heart The God of pardning love. Penitential Hymns. Hymn IX. Stay, thou insulted Spirit stay, Tho' I have done thee such despite, Nor cast the sinner quite away, Nor take thine everlasting flight. Tho' I have steel'd my stubborn heart, And still shook off my guilty fears, And vex'd, and urg'd thee to depart For forty long rebellious years: Tho' I have most unfaithful been, Of all who e'er thy grace receiv'd, Ten thousand times thy goodness seen, Ten thousand times thy goodness griev'd: Yet O! The chief of sinners spare, In honour of my great high-priest, Nor in thy righteous anger swear T' exclude me from thy people's rest. This only woe I deprecate, This only plague, I pray, remove, Nor leave me in my lost estate, Nor curse me with this want of love. Page 87 If yet thou canst my sins forgive, From now, O Lord, relieve my woes, Into thy rest of love receive, And bless me with the calm repose.