Wesley Corpus

For thy own mercy sake, The cursed thing remove; And into thy protection take The prisoner of thy love: In every trying hour Stand by my feeble soul, And skreen me from my nature's power 'Till thou hast made me whole. This is thy will, I know, That I should holy be, Should let my sin this moment go, This moment turn to thee; O might I now embrace Thine all-sufficient power, And never more to sin give place, And never grieve thee more! Hymns for One Fallen from Grace. Hymn XXXV. Alas, it must be so! I mournfully confess, The only cause of pain and woe Is sin and wickedness: Constrain'd at last I am To yield my full belief, And own "that vice ingenders shame, And folly broods o'er grief." The righteous God and true Hath made his justice known; Because his will I would not do, He leaves me to my own. Page 153 His long-rejected grace At last he takes away, And now I cannot seek his face, And now I cannot pray. Without a gracious thought, Without a wish of good, I only have the thing I sought, And reap what first I sow'd: Pain in its cause I chose, The sorrow and distress, And all the misery that flows From wilful wickedness. Why then should I complain Beneath my penal load, Or kick against the pricks in vain, Or murmur against God? To his vindictive will, At last I meekly stoop, And eat the bitter roll, and fill My mournful measure up. The heaviness of soul, The pining want of rest, The thoughts that in my bosom roll, And tear my troubled breast, The temporal despair That gnaws my heart within, 'Tis less than I deserve to bear, 'Tis all the fruits of sin. Sorrow, and loss, and shame, And soul-distracting fear May justly now their captive claim, And seize and keep me here: My strugglings all are past, My hopes of comfort cease But let them, Lord, revive at last, But let me die in peace. Page 154 Hymns for One Fallen from Grace. Hymn XXXVI. Father, I seek thy face, Which once with joy I saw, But quickly forfeited thy grace, And lost my filial awe: By sin, alas, beguil'd! Beneath thy frown I grieve; Pity thy most rebellious child, And, if thou canst, forgive.