Alas for sinners that obtain
Their passionate request!
Indulg’d in nature’s lusts, they gain
A grief, a curse, a pest:
But our imaginary want
Thou wilt not, Lord, supply:
To them thou dost in anger grant,
To us in love deny.
Alas for sinners that obtain
Hymnal/Album: Originally titled “While the flesh was yet between their teeth, the wrath of the Lord was kindled ... and the Lord smote the people with a very great plague.”—[Num.] xi. 33.Introduced in Charles Wesley, Short Hymns on Select Passages of the Holy Scriptures, Vol. 1 (Bristol: Farley, 1762). Published in The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Collected and Arranged by G. Osborn, Vol. 9 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1870), page 71.
Publishing: Public Domain