Wesley Corpus

I will not let my sorrow go, Till Jesus wipes away my tears, Kindly extorts the stubborn woe, And lastingly his mourner chears; Constrain'd to cry by love divine, My God, thou art forever mine! Hymn XLIII.73 To: "O thou, to whom in flesh reveal'd." What shall I do my God to love, My God, who lov'd, and died for me? Obdurate heart, will nothing move, Will nothing melt or soften thee? Jesus, thou lovely bleeding Lamb, To thee I pour out my complaint: I cannot hide from thee my shame, I own, and blush to own my want. I want an heart to love my God, I cannot bear this heart of stone: Soften it, Saviour, by thy blood, And melt the nether milstone down. Thou know'st (but must I tell thee so,) A wretch condemn'd, and self-abhorr'd, Accurst, and worthy endless woe! Thou know'st I do not love thee, Lord. This is my shame, my curse, my hell, I do not love the bleeding Lamb, The Lamb, who lov'd my soul so well: This is my hell, my curse, my shame. The stone cries out, I do not love, And breaks my heart its want to own, The mountain now begins to move, And half relents my heart of stone. 73A manuscript precursor of the beginning of this hymn appears in MS Thirty, 197; a precursor of the complete hymn appears in MS Shent, 64a-64b. Page 55 The word hath pass'd thy gracious lips, I feel, I feel the waters flow, The rock is cleft, the marble weeps, And lo! I mourn thy love to know. For thee, not without hope, I mourn, I know, I feel thy love to me, Thy love my flinty heart shall turn, And get itself the victory. Thou lov'dst, before the world began, This poor unloving soul of mine: Jesus came down, my God was man, That I might all become divine. My anchor this, which cannot move, The servant as his Lord shall be, And I shall live my God to love, And die for him who died for me. Hymn XLIV.74 To: "Captain, we look to thee." Come, our redeeming Lord, Come quickly from above, Hasten, according to thy word, The kingdom of thy love: By all the signs foretold, We know that thou art near, And lift our hands, divinely bold, And long to grasp thee here.