For the sick of sin we plead

Verse 1
For the sick of sin we plead,
And wrestle in thy name,
Thro’ thy Spirit intercede,
And life and pardon claim:
What we ask in faith, we have;
Thou dost the prostrate souls restore;
Witnessing thy power to save
They rise, and sin no more.

Verse 2
But are outward wonders ceas’d,
And seen no more below?
Shall the Babylonish priest,
Or madman answer, No?
Fly the legendary tales,
Away with wild delusion’s dream!
Still the truth of God prevails,
And still we trust in Him.

Verse 3
If the ancient faith Thou give,
Th’ almighty Cause restore,
Wilt thou not the work revive
Of thy stupendous power?
Known are all thy works to Thee;
Our only prayer, O Lord, is this,
Let thy will accomplish’d be
In our eternal bliss.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.’—[Mark 16,] v. 18.” This hymn appears in the 1766 manuscript “MS Mark.” 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 1977/574, Charles Wesley Notebooks Box 3). Accessed through the website of The Center for Studies in the Wesleyan Tradition, Duke Divinity School. Published in S.T. Kimbrough Jr. and Oliver A. Beckerlegge, eds., The Unpublished Poetry of Charles Wesley, vol. 2 (Nashville: Kingswood Books, 1990), pages 71-72. Verse 1 was published in The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Collected and Arranged by G. Osborn, Vol. 11 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1871), page 99.
Publishing: Public Domain