Ah, my dear Master! can it be

Verse 1
Ah! My dear Master! Can it be
That I should lose by serving thee?
In seeking souls should lose my own,
And others save, myself undone?

Verse 2
Yet am I lost (shouldst thou depart)
Betray’d by this deceitful heart,
Destroy’d, if thou my labour bless,
And ruin’d by my own success.

Verse 3
Hide me! If thou refuse to hide,
I fall a sacrifice to pride:
I cannot shun the fowler’s snare,
The fiery test I cannot bear.

Verse 4
Helpless to thee for aid I cry,
Unable to resist, or fly:
I must not, Lord, the task decline,
For all I have, and am is thine.

Verse 5
And well thou know’st I did not seek,
Uncall’d of God, for God to speak,
The dreadful charge I sought to flee,
“Send whom thou wilt, but send not me.”

Verse 6
Long did my coward flesh delay,
And still I tremble to obey,
Thy will be done, I faintly cry,
But rather—suffer me to die.

Verse 7
Ah! Rescue me from earth and sin,
Fightings without, and fears within,
More, more than hell myself I dread,
Ah! Cover my defenceless head!

Verse 8
Surely thou wilt. Thou canst not send,
And not my helpless soul defend,
Call me to stand in danger’s hour,
And not support me with thy power.

Verse 9
Lord, I believe the promise true,
“Behold, I always am with you;”
Always if thou with me remain,
Hell, earth, and sin shall rage in vain.

Verse 10
Give me thine all-sufficient grace—
Then hurl your fiery darts of praise,
Jesus and me ye ne’er shall part,
For God is greater than my heart.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: "For a Minister." Introduced in a hymnal jointly credited to John and Charles Wesley; it is more likely than not that Charles wrote it but not certain. Introduced in Hymns and Sacred Poems (1740), published by John and Charles Wesley (London: William Strahan, 1740). Published in The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Collected and Arranged by G. Osborn, Vol. 1 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1868), page 292.
Publishing: Public Domain