The poetical works of John and Charles Wesley

Father of earth and heaven,
Permit me to complain
Of those Thy love to me hath given,
Who bear Thy name in vain:
As yet I cannot see
The marks of grace Divine,
Or one of all my family
Adopted into Thine.

Strangers or foes to God,
Dead, dead in sin they live,
And thoughtless, with the worldly crowd,
Their hearts to pleasure give:
The paths of gospel-peace,
Alas, they have not known,
But hate the power of godliness,
And love themselves alone.

My life of faith and prayer
As madness they condemn,
My ways so strict they cannot bear,
So contrary to them:
My counsels they despise,
When kindly I reprove,
And stop their ears, and shut their eyes,
And trample on my love.

Day after day I mourn,
And wait their change to see:
When wilt Thou touch their hearts, and turn
The wanderers back to Thee?

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Mercy on them be show'd
In honour of Thy Son;
Nor let them perish in their blood
For whom He pour'd His own.

Father, for Jesus' sake,
Thy quickening Spirit breathe,
And let their precious souls awake,
Nor sleep in endless death:
My household-foes convert,
From Satan's power release,
And then permit me to depart
In everlasting peace.

University of Virginia Library

CXXXVIII. HYMN FOR THE HEAD OF AN UNCONVERTED FAMILY.