The poetical works of John and Charles Wesley

Why should the Lord a worm pursue
With endless offers of His love?
Not all Thy mercies can subdue,
Not all Thy benefits can move
The wretch from evil to depart,
Or melt my adamantine heart.

If now the stricken rock relents,
And waters of contrition flow,
My heart again to sin consents,
And closes with the tempting foe;
Open I tear my wounds, with pain—
I sin, repent, and sin again.

I cannot persevere in good,
I cannot persevere in ill:
Oft to repentance vain renew'd,
Constrain'd a short-lived power to feel,
I neither can despair, nor hope,
Nor keep my Lord, nor give Him up.

Even now the momentary grace
Inclines my vileness to return:
Unworthy to behold Thy face,
Low at Thy feet I fain would mourn;

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In chains of penal darkness stay,
And weep a thousand lives away.

If Thou canst pardon me once more,
Once more so great compassion show,
My tears of love I still will pour,
And spend my life in sacred woe;
I never, Lord, will cease to grieve,
I never can myself forgive.

Gladness and joy far off remove,
To weep be all my calm relief,
To' indulge in honour of Thy love,
Mine utmost avarice of grief,
To vindicate Thine injured grace,
And die to see Thy smiling face.

O might I as the harlot lie
At those dear feet transfix'd for me,
Afraid to meet His pitying eye,
Ashamed the pardoning God to see!
The God, beneath whose love I fall,
Forgives my sin, yet knows it all.

His pardoning love my heart constrains,
He lets me kiss His bleeding feet;
(That blood hath wash'd away my stains;)
Still will I the dear task repeat,
His feet by sin no longer tear,
But wash and wipe them with my hair.

This only labour shall employ
My every moment here below;
To weep for Him be all my joy,
For Him whose blood for me did flow:
And He, who hath my sins forgiven,
Shall wipe away these tears in heaven.

University of Virginia Library

LXXXVIII. AFTER A RECOVERY.

Hymn 1.