Wesley Corpus

Ah! Wherefore is this evil come, Shew us, omniscient God, for whom Thy plagues our church befal: Give, while we ask, a righteous lot, And let the guilty soul be caught, Who brings thy curse on all. With trembling awe we humbly pray, Now, now the secret cause display Of our calamity, Whose sins have brought thy judgments down? Alas, my God, the cause I own, The lot is fall'n on me! I am the man, the Jonas I, For me the working waves run high; For me the curse takes place: I have encreas'd the nation's load; I have call'd down the wrath of God On all our helpless race. With guilty unbelieving dread Long have I from his presence fled, And shunn'd the sight of heaven: In vain the pard'ning God pursued; I would not be by grace subdued; I would not be forgiven. Page 10 I know the tempest roars for me, Till I am cast into the sea, Its rage can never cease: Here then I to my doom submit, Do with me as thy will sees fit, But give thy people peace. Save, Jesu, save the sinking ship, And lo! I plunge into the deep Of all thy judgments here: I fall beneath thy threatnings, Lord; But let my soul, at last restor'd, Before thy face appear. Beneath thine anger's present weight I sink, and only deprecate Thy sorer wrath to come: Give me at last in thee a part, And now, in mercy, now avert The guilty nation's doom. O bid the angry waves subside, Into a calm the tempest chide By thy supreme command: Thou in our broken ship remain, Till ev'ry soul the harbour gain, And reach the heavenly land. Sinners, the call obey, The latest call of grace; The day is come, the vengeful day, Of a devoted race: Devils and men combine To plague the faithless seed, And vials full of wrath divine Are bursting on your head. Page 11 Enter into the Rock, Ye trembling slaves of sin, The Rock of your salvation, struck, And cleft, to take you in: To shelter the distress'd, He did the cross endure; Enter into the clefts, and rest In Jesus' wounds secure.