I, even I, am He that cheer

Verse 1
I, even I am he that chear
My people in distress and pain;
How weak thy heart, O man, to fear,
Thy feeble fellow-reptile man!

Verse 2
Withering as grass he fades, and dies:
Yet hast thou been of man afraid,
Thoughtless of God, who earth and skies
Hath built, and keeps the worlds he made.

Verse 3
Th’ oppressor’s rage thou every day
Hast fear’d, and trembled at his power,
As man like God thy soul could slay,
As hell were ready to devour.

Verse 4
But where is all his furious boast,
His idle wrath, and threatning vain?
Spite of the world and Satan’s host,
Thou dost, thou ever shalt remain.

Verse 5
The captive exile pines for ease,
And trembles lest his bread should fail,
Groans in the pit for his release,
Least death consign his soul to hell.

Verse 6
But I the Lord, thy Saviour am,
Divider of the roaring sea,
The Lord of hosts is still my name;
Mine arm is now stretch’d out for thee.

Verse 7
My Son I have for sinners given:
Help upon thee, my Son, I place;
Go, plant the new-made earth and heaven,
And bring me back the ransom’d race.

Verse 8
Thee have I shadow’d with my hand,
In thee divine and human join’d,
My messenger of peace ordain’d,
My gift of life to all mankind.

Verse 9
Thee more peculiarly I give,
To souls who for redemption groan,
Say to the dying sinner, Live,
To Sion say, Thou art mine own!

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: "The Fifty-First Chap. of Isaiah Part III." Introduced in Hymns and Sacred Poems Vol. 1, published by Charles Wesley (Bristol: Felix Farley, 1749). Published in The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Collected and Arranged by G. Osborn, Vol. 4 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1869), page 304.
Publishing: Public Domain