Wesley Corpus

Page 55 And waits his grace to shew, But I, the stubborn rebel I, Far from his arms of mercy fly, And will not Jesus know. Here then beneath my curse I stoop, I give my false pretensions up, Death's sentence I receive, Guilty before my God I am, I justify the angry Lamb, He would have had me live. I would not live, and therefore go, Self-plung'd in gulphs of endless woe, I go to second death; And let me now to Tophet fall, Unless the God, who died for all, Still spreads his arms beneath. Desiring to Love. Hymn III.31 O Saviour, cast a pitying eye, A sinner at thy feet I lie, And will not hence depart, 'Till thou regard my ceaseless moan; O speak, and take away the stone, The unbelieving heart: 'Till thou the mountain-load remove, I groan beneath my want of love; O hear my bitter cry: Without thy love I cannot live, Give, Jesu, friend of sinners, give Me love, or else I die. Dost thou not all my sufferings know, Dost thou not see mine eyes o'erflow, 31Manuscript precursors of this hymn appear in MS Shent, 132a-132b; and MS Thirty, 85-87. Page 56 My lab'ring bosom move? Why do I all this burthen bear? Need I to thee the cause declare? Thou knowst, I cannot love. This is my sin and misery, I always find thy love to me, Seal'd by thy precious blood, And yet I make thee no return, I only for my baseness mourn, I cannot love my God. The world admire my mystic grief, And torture me with vain relief, And cruel kindness shew; They bid me give my wailings o'er, And weep and vex myself no more For one they never knew. My Father's children feel my care, With kind concern my cross they bear, And in my sorrows join; The suffering members sympathize, And grieve my griefs, and sigh my sighs, And mix their tears with mine. But all in vain for me they grieve, Their sufferings cannot mine relieve, Or mitigate my pain: No answer to their prayers they see, And prevalent with God for me They seem to pray in vain.