Help, O Lord! the faithful fail

Verse 1
Help, O Lord, the Faithful fail,
Scarse a Man continues Just,
Shall the Gates of Hell prevail,
Shall the Church on Earth be lost?

Verse 2
Every Soul from Thee departs
Bold to cast thy Words behind,
Men of double Tongues and Hearts,
False as Hell are all mankind.

Verse 3
GOD shall judge the Faithless Race,
Bruise them with an Iron Rod,
All who walk in Pride abase,
Make the Rebels own their GOD.

Verse 4
Surely now, the Lord hath said,
I will in my Might arise,
Bring my needy Servants Aid,
Answer all their plaintive Sighs.

Verse 5
I myself will save th’ Opprest;
Plac’d beyond the Tyrant’s Power
Satan shall no more molest,
Sin shall never reach him more.

Verse 6
True, and faithful is the Lord,
All that He hath spoke shall be,
Pure his every Gracious Word
From the Dross of Falsehood free.

Verse 7
In the Earthy Furnace tried,
In the Soul of fallen Man,
Lo! as Silver purified,
All his Promises remain.

Verse 8
Thou, O Lord, shalt all fulfil
Earth and Hell a while may rage,
Thou art our Preserver still,
Christ is Ours from Age to Age.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “Psalm 12.” This hymn was appears in the mid-to-late-1740s manuscript “MS Fish.” 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 1977/566, Charles Wesley Notebooks Box 2). Accessed through the website of The Center for Studies in the Wesleyan Tradition, Duke Divinity School. Introduced in Versions and Paraphrases of Select Psalms. Published in The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Collected and Arranged by G. Osborn, Vol. 8 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1870), page 22.
Publishing: Public Domain