Wesley Corpus

Thanks to thy grace, if I begin My wretchedness at length to know, If now, in part convinc'd of sin, I groan beneath my weight of woe; Surely at last I more than see That sin is perfect misery. Stript of my boasted gifts, I fall A beggar at thy mercy's door, I ask an alms, for grace I call, Poor, beyond all expression poor, If one good thought thy heaven could buy, Alas! Not one good thought have I. How dark and dreary is my heart! Dark as the chambers of the grave, So blind, 'till thou thy light impart, I cannot see thy power to save. Or know, 'till thou the veil remove, That I am sin, and God is love. My fig-leaves now are cast aside, The rags of my self-righteousness, From thee my shame I cannot hide, My spirit sinks in deep distress; How shall I in thy sight appear, Or bear myself, when thou art near! Page 43 A monster to myself I am, Self-loathing at thy feet I lie, How shall I bear this load of shame! How shall I meet thy piercing eye! I faint, and sink, and die away At the23 insufferable day. Mountains, and rocks on you I call, My nakedness of soul to skreen, Fall, on my guilty nature fall, And hide me from the hell of sin! Alas! My soul, it cannot be: The hell of sin remains in thee. O God! (But shall I dare to pray?) O Jesus! Son of God and man, Pity a sinful worm, and stay My grief, and mitigate my pain; Cover my shame, remove my load Of sin, for thou hast blush'd in blood. Or rather, if it be thy will, Conform me fully to thy death, Now let me all my vileness feel, Now let me render up my breath, And bow my head, and die with thee, For shame that thou hast died for me. Another "Wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." Revelation iii. 17. Wretched, helpless, and distrest Ah! Whither shall I fly! Ever gasping after rest, I cannot find it nigh, Naked, sick, and poor, and blind, Fast bound in sin, and misery, Friend of sinners, let me find My help, my all in thee. 23"The" changed to "thy" in 2nd edn (1745) and following. 24Ori., "6"; a misprint. Page 44