Wesley Corpus

Why should a man complain, Beneath the vengeful rod! 'Tis all my due, the penal pain, The absence of my God; Page 119 An heavier doom than this My sin deserves to feel, The darkness of the great abyss, The hottest flames of hell. With patience then I yield To bear my lighter doom, And wait 'till all my time's fulfill'd, And my last change is come; Only when all is past, In pity think on me, And save me as by fire at last, And let me die in thee. Hymns for One Fallen from Grace. Hymn XIII. O my God, no longer mine! I have cast off his yoke, Broke thro' all the threats divine, Thro' all the mercies broke: I have turn'd to sin again, The sin that claims me for its own; Sin, and shame, and guilt, and pain, And hell, and I are one. Where is now my strife and care And vows from sin to fly? Where the answer of that prayer, "O rather let me die! Let me quit this wretched life, And die, that I may sin no more " I have sinn'd, and all my strife, And all my hope is o'er. Page 120 Would to God, that I had died, E'er I the deed had done, Mock'd afresh, and crucified, And trampled on his Son! All in vain I wish, and pray, It is, and cannot but have been: Who can call back yesterday, Or nullify my sin? With a diamond's point it stands Engraven on my heart, Wrote by mine, and Satan's hands, It mocks the eraser's art: Deep as hell's foundations driven Into my soul the marks remain: Is there dew in that fair heaven To purge so foul a stain? Dare I lift again mine eyes, And ask th' atoning God, What his speaking blood replies, His sin-expurging blood! Is it all thy blood can cleanse, And melt so foul an heart of stone? Mercy's whole omnipotence May here be fully shewn. Me if thou canst still restore, Now, Lord, my doom repeal, Bid me stand as heretofore, As I had never fell: If such power be in thy blood, Now, now repeat my sins forgiven, Draw me thro' the cleansing flood, And snatch me up to heaven. Page 121 Hymns for One Fallen from Grace. Hymn XIV.74