Scripture Verse

God our Savior…will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. 1 Timothy 2:3–4

Introduction

Words: Charles Wes­ley, Hymns on God’s Ev­er­last­ing Love 1741.

Music: Leo­min­ster George W. Mar­tin, 1862 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Mar­tin (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

portrait
Charles Wesley (1707–1788)

Lyrics

Ah! whi­ther should I go,
Burdened and sick and faint?
To whom should I my trou­ble show,
And pour out my com­plaint?
My Sav­ior bids me come;
Ah! why do I de­lay?
He calls the wea­ry sin­ner home,
And yet from Him I stay.

What is it keeps me back,
From which I can­not part,
Which will not let the Sav­ior take
Possession of my heart?
Searcher of hearts, in mine
Thy try­ing pow­er dis­play;
Into its dark­est cor­ners shine,
And take the veil away.

I now be­lieve in Thee,
Compassion reigns alone;
According to my faith, to me
O let it, Lord, be done!
In me is all the bar,
Which Thou wouldst fain re­move;
Remove it, and I shall de­clare
That God is on­ly love.

The fol­low­ing vers­es are com­mon­ly omit­ted:

Some curs­èd thing un­known
Must sure­ly lurk with­in,
Some id­ol which I will not own,
Some sec­ret bo­som sin.

Jesu, the hin­drance show,
Which I have feared to see;
Yet let me now con­sent to know
What keeps me out of Thee.