Wesley Corpus

At the Approach of Temptation Source: Hymns and Sacred Poems (1740), Part I Author: Charles Wesley (attributed) --- Take me up into thine arms, Let me hang upon thy breast, Hide me there secure from harms, Lull my sorrowing soul to rest. At the Approach of Temptation. God of my life, whose gracious power Thro’ various deaths my soul hath led, Or turn’d aside the fatal hour, Or lifted up my sinking head; In all my ways thy hand I own, Thy ruling providence I see: O help me still my course to run, And still direct my paths to thee. On thee my helpless soul is cast, And looks again thy grace to prove: I call to mind the wonders past, The countless wonders of thy love. Thou, Lord, my spirit oft hast staid, Hast snatch’d me from the gaping tomb, A monument of mercy made, And rescu’d me from wrath to come. Oft hath the sea confess’d thy power, And gave me back to thy command: It could not, Lord, my life devour, Safe in the hollow of thy hand. Oft from the margin of the grave Thou, Lord, hast lifted up my head: Sudden I found thee near to save; The fever own’d thy touch, and fled. But O! The mightier work of grace, That still the life of faith I live, That still I pant to sing thy praise, That still my all I gasp to give! Pluck’d from the roaring lion’s teeth, Caught up from the eternal fire, Snatch’d from the gates of hell I breathe, And lo! To heaven I still aspire! Whither, O whither should I fly, But to my loving Saviour’s breast; Secure within thy arms to lie, And safe beneath thy wings to rest. I see the fiery trial near, But thou, my God, art still the same; Hell, earth, and sin I scorn to fear, Divinely arm’d with Jesu’s name. I have no skill the snare to shun, But thou, O Christ, my wisdom art: I ever into ruin run, But thou art greater than my heart. I have no might t’ oppose the foe, But everlasting strength is thine. Shew me the way that I should go, Shew me the path I should decline. Which shall I leave, and which pursue? Thou only my adviser be; My God, I know not what to do; But Oh! Mine eyes are fix’d on thee! Foolish, and impotent, and blind, Lead me a way I have not known, Bring me where I my heaven may find, The heaven of loving thee alone. Enlarge my heart to make thee room, Enter, and in me ever stay; The crooked then shall strait become, The darkness shall be lost in day!