Wesley Corpus

Desiring Christ Source: Hymns and Sacred Poems (1740), Part I Author: Charles Wesley (attributed) --- Save me from wrath,35 the plague expell; Jesu, thy humble self impart; O let thy mind within me dwell; O give me lowliness of heart. Enter thyself, and cast out sin; Thy spotless purity bestow; Touch me, and make the leper clean: Wash me, and I am white as snow. Fury is not in thee, my God: O why should it be found in thine! Sprinkle me, Saviour, with thy blood, And all thy gentleness is mine. Pour but thy blood upon the flame, Meek, and dispassionate, and mild, The leopard sinks into a lamb, And I become a little child. Desiring Christ. Where shall I lay my weary head? Where shall I hide me from my shame? From all I feel, and all I dread, And all I have, and all I am! Swift to outstrip the stormy wind, And leave this cursed self behind! 35“Wrath” changed to “pride” in 4th edn. (1743) and following. O the intolerable load Of nature waken’d to pursue, The footsteps of a distant God, Till faith hath form’d the soul anew! ’Tis death, ’tis more than death to bear-- I cannot live, till God is here. Give me thy wings, celestial Dove, And help me from myself to fly; Then shall my soul far off remove, The tempest’s idle rage defy, From sin, from sorrow, and from strife Escap’d, and hid in Christ, my life. Stranger on earth, I sojourn here: Yet, O on earth I cannot rest, Till thou my hidden life appear, And sweetly take me to thy breast: To thee my wishes all aspire, And sighs for thee my whole desire. Search, and try out my panting heart: Surely, my Lord, it pants for thee, Jealous lest earth should claim a part: Thine wholly thine I gasp to be. Thou know’st ’tis all I live to prove; Thou know’st, I only want thy love.