Forbid it, Lord, that I should be
Griev’d to sell all and follow thee:
Ah, never leave me to depart,
But keep possession of my heart:
Left to myself, I surely know,
Away from thee I soon should go,
With-hold my heart so dearly bought,
And sell my soul and God for nought.
Forbid it, Lord, that I should be
Hymnal/Album: Originally titled “He went away sorrowful.”—[Matt.] xix. 22. Introduced in Charles Wesley, Short Hymns on Select Passages of the Holy Scriptures, Vol. 2 (Bristol: Farley, 1762). Published in The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Collected and Arranged by G. Osborn, Vol. 10 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1870), page 326.
Publishing: Public Domain