Wesley Corpus

4 But O! suffice the season past; My idols now away I cast, Pleasure, and wealth, and fame, The world, and all its goods, I leave, To thee alone resolved to give Whate'er I have or am. 5 Lo! in a thankful, loving heart, I render thee whate'er thou art, I give myself to thee; And thee my whole delight I own, My joy, my glory, and my crown, To all eternity. 1 O THou who seest what is in man, And show'st myself to me, Suffer a sinner to complain, And groan his griefs to thee. 2 A sinner, that has cloak'd his shame With self-deceiving art; Thy worshipper reform'd in name, But unrenew'd in heart. 3 The servants most unlike their Lord, How oft did I condemn ! The persecuting Church abhorr'd, Nor saw myself in them : 4 The spirit of my foes I caught, The angry, bitter zeal; And fierce for my own party fought, And breathed the fire of hell. 5 Threat'ning I did and slaughter breathe, (The flail of heresy,) And doom the sects to bonds, or death, That did not think with me. G To propagate the truth, I fought With fury and despite; And, in my zeal for Israel, sought To slay the Gibeonite. 7 “The temple of the Lord are we ?” And all who dared deny, I would not have their conscience free, But force them to comply. 8 With wholesome discipline severe To conquer them I strove, And drive into the pale through fear, Who would not come through love. 9 How vainly then the zealots blind Of Rome did I disclaim : Still to the church of Satan join'd, And differing but in name. A WoRD TO A PROTESTANT. 10 How could I, Lord, myself deceive, While unreform'd within P Protest against their creed, and cleave The closer to their sin P ll Their foulest sin my own I made, (And humbly now confess,) While by my anger I essay'd To work thy righteousness. 12 A murderer convict, I come My vileness to bewail : By nature born a son of Rome, A child of wrath and hell. 13 Lord, I at last recant, reject, Through thy great strength alone, The madness of the Romish sect, The madness of my own. 14 Lord, I abhor, renounce, abjure, The fiery spirit unclean, The persecuting zeal impure, The sin-opposing sin.