Forgive my foes? it cannot be

Verse 1
Forgive my foes? it cannot be:
My foes with cordial love embrace?
Fast bound in sin and misery,
Unsav’d, unchang’d by hallowing grace,
Throughout my fallen soul I feel
With man this is impossible.

Verse 2
Great Searcher of the mazy heart,
A thought from Thee I would not hide:
I cannot draw th’ invenom’d dart,
Or quench the hell of wrathful pride;
Jesus, till I thy Spirit receive,
Thou knowst; I never can forgive.

Verse 3
Come, Lord, and tame the tiger’s force,
Arrest the whirlwind in my will,
Turn back the torrent’s rapid course,
And bid the headlong sun stand still,
The rock dissolve, the mountain move,
And melt my hatred into love.

Verse 4
Root out the wrath Thou dost restrain;
And when I have my Saviour’s mind,
I cannot render pain for pain,
I cannot speak a word unkind,
An angry thought I cannot know,
Or count mine injurer my foe.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled “Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.”—[Luke] vi. 37. 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. 11 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1871), page 155.
Publishing: Public Domain