Desiring to Love, Hymn 2

Thou lovely Lamb, who on the tree
Shedd'st Thy last drop of blood for me,
My sufferings to remove,
Low in the dust I lie, and mourn
That I can make Thee no return
For all Thy waste of love.

Tis all Thy loving heart's desire,
That I Thy fulness should require,
And with my misery part;
Thy Spirit strives to set me free,
The Father's Wisdom speaks in Thee,
"My Son, give Me thy heart."

What is it, Lord, that keeps me back?
What is it which for Thy dear sake
I would not now forego?
Pleasure, or wealth, or life, or fame?
Thou know'st, no more my wishes aim
At happiness below.

I dread the human face Divine,
I want no other love than Thine,
All lovely as Thou art:
I view Thy creatures with disdain:
Tear them away, let Jesus reign
The monarch of my heart.

I would not, Lord, my soul deceive,
Willing I seem my all to leave,
So I might purchase Thee:
What is it then that holds me still?
My own, my own, and not the will
Of Him who died for me.

It must be so; in me alone
It stands; some cursed thing unknown
Compels my Lord to stay;
I will not suffer Him to save,
Some mystery of sin I have,
That bars the Saviour's way.

Shame on my soul! The dire disgrace
Covers with guilty shame my face.
And presses down my soul;
Hardly compell'd, I now confess,
I love, and cherish my disease,
And will not be made whole.

The Saviour God of love I clear,
Who justifies is always near,
And waits His grace to show;
But I, the stubborn rebel I,
Far from His arms of mercy fly,
And will not Jesus know.

Here then beneath my curse I stoop,
I give my false pretensions up,
Death's sentence I receive,
Guilty before my God I am,
I justify the angry Lamb,
He would have had me live.

I would not live, and therefore go,
Self-plunged in gulfs of endless woe,
I go to second death;
And let me now to Tophet fall,
Unless the God, who died for all,
Still spreads His arms beneath.