Wesley Corpus

Page 152 Establishes our hearts with grace, And perfects us in holiness; But if impatiently we rise40 To offer sinless sacrifice, The power we shall not long maintain, Or kings without our Saviour reign. "Saul spared Agag." I. Sam. xv. 9. How fond the self-deceiver's hope, By partial righteousness, By giving grosser evils up An holy God to please! Our vulgar sins we slay in vain, And every lust beside, If still we suffer self to reign, Or spare the life of pride. "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice." I. Sam. xv. 22. How shall we offer to the skies That better, more, than sacrifice? Jesus, with heavenly wisdom bless, And teach us how thyself to please: O work in me to will and do; Spiritual adoration true In perfect love I then shall pay, And thee with all my heart obey. "Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord." I. Sam. xv. 33. 'Gainst the man of sin in me, O Lord, thine arm make bare, End his life and tyranny Whom I reserve and spare: Agag is the reigning lust; O let him feel thy Spirit's sword, Sacrific'd to God the just, Devoted to the Lord. 40John Wesley underlined "impatiently we" in his personal copy, adding in the margin "How?"