Ah! Lord, regard the pains I feel

Verse 1
Ah! Lord, regard the Pains I feel,
No more from me thy self conceal,
No more thy Help defer,
Regard (or utterly I faint)
My bitter Cry, my sad Complaint,
My Agonizing Prayer.

Verse 2
The Foe comes on insulting loud,
Strengthen’d by all th’ Ungodly Crowd,
Mine Innocence to slay,
They come with full Malitious Power,
And wrathfull Hatred to devour
Their unresisting Prey.

Verse 3
My Heart is pain’d within my Breast,
I sink by Fear of Death opprest,
And tremble at my Doom,
O’re whelm’d with Dread and sore Affright,
And Horror deep as Egypt’s Night,
Or Hell’s tremendous Gloom.

Verse 4
O that I from the World could fly,
And scape this lowring Tempest nigh!
O that the Heavenly Dove
Would lend his Wings my Flight to aid,
And to some unfrequented Shade
My Flutt’ring Soul remove!

Verse 5
How gladly would I haste away,
And in the distant Desart stay,
Enjoy my long-sought Rest,
Indulge my calmly pensive Grief,
And find at last my full Relief
In Jesu’s loving Breast.

Verse 6
But O! I still with Sinners dwell,
Whose Tongues are set on Fire of Hell;
Thou, Lord, their Tongues divide,
Their Malice blast, their Fury tame,
Destroy their Hopes, and put to Shame
The Sons of Strife and Pride.

Verse 7
Their Violence I have felt and Seen:
A City of Oppressive Men,
The World, in Satan lies;
Restless they walk their Sinfull Round,
Mischief in all their Streets is found,
And Miserable Vice.

Verse 8
Their cruel Guile, and cursed Art,
And Slanders foul have broke my Heart,
And still my Bosom tear;
Forc’d to survive my murther’d Fame,
The Intolerable load of Shame
My Nature groans to bear.

Verse 9
Less had I felt the deadly Blow,
Inflicted by an Open Foe,
Who first avow’d his Hate;
I might have hop’d his Rage to shun,
Or Sunk, without a murmuring Groan,
Beneath my Milder Fate.

Verse 10
But He that dealt the treacherous Wound,
And smote mine Honour to the Ground,
And triumph’d in my Smart,
Was once my Bosom-Friend and Guide:
And Thou hast goar’d thy Partner’s Side,
And stab’d me to the Heart!

Verse 11
But Oh! what Penal Woes shall seize
The desperate Slaves of Wickedness!
Who here with Satan dwell,
They shall with Satan dwell beneath,
Arrested by the Pains of Death,
And tumbled into Hell.

Verse 12
Till then I to the Lord will pray,
The Lord shall soon his Arm display,
And save me from my Fear,
At Morn, and Eve, and Noon my Cry
And instant Prayer shall pierce the Sky,
And force my GOD to hear.

Verse 13
He hath preserv’d me by his Might,
And rescued in th’ unequall Fight,
And made my Conflicts cease;
GOD and his Saints were on my Side,
And still the Blood of Sprinkling cried
Restore that Sinners Peace!

Verse 14
He still th’ United Prayer shall hear,
Again in my behalf appear,
For GOD is still the same:
My Foes he shall in Wrath cast down,
Who will not turn, or fear his Frown,
Or tremble at his Name.

Verse 15
Against his peaceable Ally
He rose, and broke the Cov’nant-Tie,
And shew’d his treacherous Art;
Smoother than Oil I found his Words,
Yet sharper far than naked Swords,
For War was in his Heart.

Verse 16
O Thou who like Reproach dost bear,
Cast on the Lord with me, thy Care,
And He shall still Sustain;
He never will forsake the Just,
Or let them fall, by Him who trust
To be brought up again.

Verse 17
But GOD shall cast into the Pit
The Men of Violence and Deceit,
And end their shorten’d Days;
While still to Thee by Faith I live,
To Thee, O GOD, the Glory give,
And ever Sing thy Praise.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “Psalm LV.” This hymn appears in the ca. 1749 manuscript “MS Psalms.” This manuscript is part of the collection of the Methodist Archive and Research Centre in The John Rylands Library, The University of Manchester (accession number MA 1977/553, Charles Wesley Notebooks Box 1). Accessed through the website of The Center for Studies in the Wesleyan Tradition, Duke Divinity School. Published in The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Collected and Arranged by G. Osborn, Vol. 8 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1870), page 121.
Publishing: Public Domain