The poetical works of John and Charles Wesley

How long, ye wavering souls, how long
Halt ye between two different ways?
Recant, or justify the wrong;
Renounce, or own the Saviour's grace.
If Moloch be your horrid god,
Pursue and cleave to him alone;
If Christ hath bought you with His blood,
The universal blessing own.

Though twice four hundred prophets swear
That God delights in human pain,
I, even I, their fury dare,
His all-redeeming grace maintain;
Against them all I stand alone,
And challenge them their cause to prove;
The God of truth shall make it known,
Shall answer by the fire of love.

Call on your reprobating god;
To him, ye priests of Moloch, cry:—
“Didst thou for all pour out thy blood?
Didst thou not half the world pass by?
The most hast thou not doom'd to hell?
Is grace for every sinner free?
Hear, Moloch, hear; set to thy seal,
Confirm thy Horrible Decree!”

Where is the answer to your prayer?
(Aloud, ye priests of Moloch, cry!)
The voice, the seal, the witness where?
What, doth your god his own pass by?

Perhaps he hunts his routed foe,
Who preaches grace is free for all;
Perhaps he talks with fiends below,
Or sleeps, and needs a louder call.

No answer yet? What, no reply?
After your manner seek your god;
Your rage, your knives and lancets, try;
(He much delights in human blood;)
By furious wrath your spirits wound,
Exert your mad Satanic zeal,
Start up, and with a frantic bound
Awaken all your inbred hell.

Come near, ye people of my Lord,
With me the common Saviour share;
Come near, and let the gospel word
The altar of your hearts repair:
By sin and Satan broken down,
That altar now in ruins lies;
But God His glorious cause shall own,
And bare His arm in all your eyes.

There let the untamed bullock lay,
A whole burnt-offering to the Lord;
His Spirit shall the' old Adam slay,
And hew in pieces by the word.
Now let the fuel be applied;
Streams of ungodliness pour in,
O'erwhelm it with corruption's tide,
Fill all your hearts and lives with sin.

'Tis done: your hearts with sin o'erflow;
This is the hour of sacrifice:
Lo! to the living God I go,
The living God of earth and skies.

O Thou almighty Lord and God,
By Abraham and his sons confest,
Shed in our hearts Thy love abroad,
And answer by the fiery test.

To Thee I make my bold appeal:
Let it be known in this our day
That Thou art God in Israel,
And I am sent to teach Thy way;
A faithful servant of my Lord,
That I Thy gospel truths proclaim,
That I have publish'd at Thy word
The universal Saviour's name.

O hear, and show Thou hear'st my call,
That this Thy people now may know
Thou art the common Lord of all,
Thy blood for all mankind did flow.
O let them feel the grace, the power,
The life Thy healing blood imparts;
The Saviour of the world adore,
And own that Thou hast turn'd their hearts.

The God that answereth by fire,
Jehovah, to our help is come!
In flames of love our hearts aspire,
His love doth all our sins consume;
It now consumes the sacrifice,
The burning Spirit makes us clean,
The wood, and stone, and dust destroys,
And licks up all the streams of sin.

The sin of all the world He bears
Away: upon our face we fall;
His fire of love confirms our prayers,
Attesting that He died for all.

He died for all the fallen race,
We all may His salvation prove:
The Lord—He is the God of grace,
The Lord—He is the God of love!

University of Virginia Library

HYMN XIII.

The Lord's Controversy.