The poetical works of John and Charles Wesley

Have I not ask'd, and ask'd again
And pray'd ten thousand times in vain
For power and liberty,
A man of lips and heart unclean?
Yet still I cannot cease from sin,
Yet still I am not free.

How can it be most gracious Lord,
If Thou art faithful to Thy word?
The sole exception I,
I seem of all the ransom'd race
Alone excluded from Thy grace,
And left in sin to die.

Do I not still for mercy pray?
Take this oppressive sin away,
This unbelief remove;
My desperate misery relieve,
And peace and power and freedom give
By giving me Thy love.

198

Why do I not receive it now?
Righteous in all Thy judgments Thou
Explain the mystery;
Or let me still in darkness own,
Howe'er unseen, howe'er unknown,
The hindrance is in me.

Could I but ask, and ask aright,
My Saviour soon would give me light,
Would soon Himself impart:
O for that supplicating power!
O might I from this happy hour
Obtain a praying heart!

Indulge me in this one request,
And lo, I trust Thee for the rest,
Thou God of faithful love,
And sure of all Thou canst bestow,
In sorrow or in joy I go
To praise Thy truth above.

University of Virginia Library

148.

[Have I not ask'd, and ask'd again]