Wesley Corpus

Weary world, when will it end, Destin'd to the purging fire! Fain I would to heaven ascend; Thitherward I still aspire: Saviour, this is not my place, Let me die to see thy face. O cut short thy53 work in me, Make a speedy end of sin, Set my heart at liberty, Bring the heavenly nature in, Seal me to redemption's day, Bear my new-born soul away. For this only thing I wait, This for which I here was born, Raise me to my first estate, Bid me to thy arms return, Let me to thine image rise, Give me back my paradise. For thine only love I pant, God of love thyself reveal, Love, thou know'st, is all I want, Now my only want fulfil, Answer now thy Spirit's cry, Let me love my God, and die. Hymn XXXI. For the Outcasts of Israel.54 Shepherd of souls, with pitying eye The thousands55 of our Israel see: To thee in their behalf we fly, Ourselves but newly found in thee. 53"Thy" changed to "the" in 6th edn. (1761) and following. 54Manuscript precursors of this hymn appear in MS Shent, 116a-116b; and MS Thirty, 212-13. Both identify the hymn as written in connection with Charles's preaching to the tinners, etc. in Cornwall. 55"Thousands" changed to "thousand" in 1788 edn. only. Page 42 See, where o'er desart wastes they err, And neither food nor feeder have, Nor fold, nor place of refuge near, For no man cares their souls to save. Wild as the untaught Indian's brood The Christian savages remain, Strangers and enemies to God, They make thee spend thy blood in vain. Thy people, Lord, are sold for nought, Nor know they their Redeemer nigh: They perish whom thyself hast bought, Their souls for lack of knowledge die. The pit its mouth hath open'd wide, To swallow up its careless prey: Why should they die, when thou hast dy'd, Hast dy'd to bear their sins away? Why should the foe thy purchase seize? Remember, Lord, thy dying groans: The meed56 of all thy sufferings these, O claim them for thy ransom'd ones. Extend to these thy pard'ning grace, To these be thy salvation shew'd, O add them to thy chosen race, O sprinkle all their hearts with blood.