Religion

Hymns on God's Everlasting Love, Second Series, 2

by Charles Wesley 1707–1788

From Hymns on God's Everlasting Love, Second Series (1742) · Osborn ed., vol. 3 (1869)

Religion

Jesus, my Jesus, hear,
And bid the sinner hope;
Guilty and trembling, I draw near,
But dare not give Thee up:
For this alone I live,
A poor backslider I,
Thy forfeit mercy to retrieve,
Or at Thy feet to die.

0 'tis a bitter thing
From Jesus to depart:
This is, O death, thy only sting,
I feel it in my heart;
I bear my guilty load,
My foolishness I mourn,
I have forsook the living God;
O how shall I return!

O Jesu, full of grace,
To Thee I make my moan;
Let me again behold Thy face,
Call home -Thy banish'd one,
Again my pardon seal,
Again my soul restore,
And freely my backslidings heal,
And bid me sin no more.

Wilt Thou not bid me rise?
Speak — and my soul shall live;
Forgive, my gasping spirit cries,
Abundantly forgive;
Where sin hath most increased,
Let grace much more abound;
Let me, from all my bonds released,
Again in Thee be found.

What shall I say to move
The pity of my Lord?,
Dost Thou not still delight to love
Me of Thine own accord?
For Thine own mercy's sake
Relieve my wretchedness,
And O! my pardon give me back,
And give me back my peace.

Again Thy love reveal,
Restore that inward heaven;
O grant me once again to feel,
Through faith, my sins forgiven;
Thy utmost mercy show,
Say to my drooping soul,
In peace, and full assurance go,
Thy faith hath made thee whole.

✦ ✦ ✦

Attributed to Charles Wesley; Osborn's edition does not distinguish the brothers

MLA

Wesley, Charles. “Hymns on God's Everlasting Love, Second Series, 2.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/wesley_c/366/.

Chicago

Wesley, Charles. “Hymns on God's Everlasting Love, Second Series, 2.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/wesley_c/366/.

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