Groaning for Redemption, Part 2

Forgive me, O long-suffering God,
The hurry of my peevish grief;
Though fainting underneath my load,
And staggering oft through unbelief,
Thee for my Lord I fain would own,
And say, Thine only will be done.

Forgive me then my follies past,
The fond impatience of my prayers,
My rash complaints and eager haste,
My faithless doubts and fruitless cares;
Thou know'st, till Thou Thy life bring in.
I cannot, cannot cease from sin.

The captive exile makes his moan,
And hastens to be loosed from pain,
The pain through which I ever groan,
The dread lest I should turn again,
Lest all my bread of life should fail,
And I sink down unchanged to hell.

That dreadful thought comes thundering back,
And falls a mountain on my head:
Nor can, nor will I comfort take
In hearing Satan's factors plead;
I cannot hug, like them, my chain,
Or rest, if sin in me remain.

In vain they bid me blindly fly,
And catch at Thy unknown decree;
In vain they bid me dream that I
Was chose from all eternity:
Alas! I want election's seal,
For I am all unholy still.

Tell me no more, ye carnal saints,
"The best must always strive with sin,
God will not answer all your wants,
God will not make you throughly clean,
Sin must have some unhallow'd part,
Christ cannot fill up all the heart."

Can life and death together dwell?
Can Christ with Belial e'er agree,
Darkness with light, and heaven with hell?
Can both at once have place in me?
Can I be Christ's and sin's abode,
A den of thieves and house of God?

No, Jesus, no! Thou Holy One,
When Thou shalt come into my heart,
I know that Thou wilt reign alone,
And sin for ever shall depart;
Thy love shall cast out all my fear
Lest sin should come, when Thou art here.

In patient hope for this I wait,
Till all old things are past away,
Till Thou shall all things new create,
And I behold Thy perfect day,
The mark of mine election show,
And be in Christ a creature new.