Wesley Corpus

Be this dear Lord, my chief desire, That every child may still aspire To those pure joys above, Lay up their heart and treasure there, Content on earth with Mary's share, And blest in Jesus' love. If anxious here for their success, A momentary happiness I labour to secure, How should it all my powers engage Their never-failing heritage Their endless bliss t' insure? If for their bodies I provide, And from the slightest suffering hide The suckling on my knee, Shall I by my neglect expose Their dearer souls to fearful woes Thro' all eternity? Shall I the haughty wish instill, Or give them up to their own will, And every vain desire? As kind the pagan parent was, Who made his sons and daughters pass To Molock thro' the fire. Expos'd in this bleak wilderness To pining want or sad distress Could I my offspring see? Could I the heavier burthen bear To see them void of sacred care, And lost for want of thee? Page 252 Thou, Lord, the fatal ill prevent, And guard whom thou to me hast lent, And guide them by thine eye; Convert or to thyself receive, And let them to thy glory live, Or innocently die! For an Unconverted Child. Thou God, that hearst the whisper'd prayer, Regard a mournful mother's care For her poor thoughtless son: Anxious, distrest, thou knowst I live, And still in secret places grieve For follies not my own. Can I my own dear child forget, Or see without the last regret His wild disorder'd ways, His enmity to things divine, His league with hell, his feasts with swine, His total want of grace? Son of my womb, to evil sold, Him I with streaming eyes behold Intirely dead to thee, Careless, secure on Tophet's brink, Ready with all his sins to sink Into eternity. But will his desperate madness go Self doom'd to everlasting woe, Content, insensible? What heart can bear the dreadful thought! And have I into being brought, And borne a child for hell! Page 253 Forbid it, O most gracious God! With pity see him in his blood, For Jesus' sake alone, Regard my endless griefs and fears, Nor let the son of all these tears Be finally undone.