Wesley Corpus

Thou Man of Griefs, remember me, Who never canst thyself forget, Thy last mysterious agony, Thy fainting pangs, and bloody sweat, When wrestling in the strength of prayer Thy spirit sunk beneath its load, Thy feeble flesh abhor'd to bear The wrath of an Almighty God. A taste of thy tormenting fears If now thou dost to me impart,83 Give the full virtue of thy tears, The cries which pierc'd thy Father's heart; Unite my sorrows to thine own, And let me to my God complain, Who melted by thy Spirit's groan, Can save me from that endless pain. Father, if I may call thee so, Regard my fearful heart's desire, Remove this load of guilty woe, Nor let me in my sins expire: I tremble, lest the wrath divine Which bruises now my wretched soul, Should bruise this wretched soul of mine, Long as eternal ages roll. To thee my last distress I bring: The heighten'd fear of death I find; The tyrant brandishing his sting Appears, and hell is close behind! I deprecate that death alone, That endless banishment from thee: O save, and give me to thy Son, Who trembled, wept, and bled for me. 83John Wesley underlined "thou" in his personal copy, commenting in the margin "No, sin does." Page 353 In Jesu's name and Spirit I As dying call, My God, my God, Attend our strong united cry, And see me roll'd in Jesu's blood! I arm me with his mortal pain, Behind his wounds my soul I hide; If thou canst slay thy Son again, Transfix me now thro' Jesu's side! "Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience, by the things which he suffer'd." Heb. v. 8. How backward is our flesh and blood To learn the lessons of the cross! Eager to work the works of God, We shrink at suffering for his cause; Before we in his death abide,84 We fondly hope his life to prove, And nature yet uncrucified Would snatch the crown of perfect love.85 But Christ, the co-eternal Son, His Father's harshest will obey'd, Drank the full cup of grief unknown, Thro' pain a perfect Saviour made: He did the work he came to do, To us the bright example set: Yet if he had not suffer'd too, Th' obedience had not been compleat.