The poetical works of John and Charles Wesley

O that I could the desert find
Sequester'd from the faithless kind,
Forgotten and unknown
To earth's remotest corner flee,
And hid in calm obscurity,
Converse with God alone.

Lend me Thy wings, celestial Dove,
From earthly objects to remove,
Shut out the world of care,
Banish the creature from my sight,
And let me find my whole delight
In musing and in prayer.

But O! in vain the world I shun,
If out of sin I cannot run,
Or from myself depart,
If 'scaped from all external woe,
I carry still where'er I go,

This inbred enemy to rest,
That harasses my wretched breast,
Who shall expel him hence?
Answer, O Lord, by entering in,
Chase from my heart the man of sin,
Divine Omnipotence!

When all my unbelief is gone,
Then shall I dwell secure, alone
With Him that fills the skies;
Whose presence makes the secret place,
And opens in the wilderness
A constant paradise.

Come, Jesus, now Thy foe to' exclude,
Into the sacred solitude
My Spirit now receive;
And present in my happy breast,
My perfect peace, my heavenly rest,
My life eternal live.

University of Virginia Library

1304.

[O that I could the desert find]