Verse 1
Jesu! My great high-priest above, (Heb. 4:14, Heb. 7:26)
My friend before the throne of love! (Heb. 8:1, John 15:15)
If now for me prevails thy prayer, (Heb. 7:25)
If now I find thee pleading there; (I John 2:1, Rom. 8:34)
If thou the secret wish convey,
And sweetly prompt my heart to pray,
Hear; and my weak petitions join,
Almighty advocate, to thine! (I John 2:1)

Verse 2
Fain would I know my utmost ill,
And groan my nature’s weight to feel, (Rom. 7:18-24)
To feel the clouds that round me roll,
The night that hangs upon my soul.
The darkness of my carnal mind, (Rom. 8:7, Eph. 4:18)
My will perverse, my passions blind,
Scatter’d o’er all the earth abroad, (Eph. 2:13)
Immeasurably far from God. (Isa. 59:2)

Verse 3
Jesu! My heart’s desire obtain,
My earnest suit present and gain,
My fulness of corruption show, (Psalm 139:23-24)
The knowledge of myself bestow; (Psalm 139:2)
A deeper displicence[1] at sin, (II Cor. 7:10)
A sharper sense of hell within, (Rom. 7:24)
A stronger struggling to get free, (Rom. 7:23)
A keener appetite for thee. (Psalm 42:1-2)

Verse 4
For thee my spirit often pants, (Psalm 42:1-2, Psalm 63:1)
Yet often in pursuing faints, (Gal. 6:9)
Drooping it soon neglects t’ aspire,
To fan[2] the ever-dying fire: (Matt. 24:12)
No more thy glory’s skirts are seen, (Ex. 33:23)
The world, the creature steals between; (James 4:4, I John 2:15-16)
Heavenward no more my wishes move,
And I forget that thou art love. (I John 4:8, I John 4:16)

Verse 5
O sovereign love, to thee I cry,
Give me thyself, or else I die.
Save me from death, from hell set free, (Heb. 2:14-15)
Death, hell, are but the want of thee.
Quicken’d by thy imparted flame, (Rom. 8:11, Eph. 2:1, Eph. 2:5)
Sav’d, when possest of thee, I am;
My life, my only heav’n thou art: (Phil. 1:21, Col. 3:4. Psalm 73:25)
And lo! I feel thee in my heart!

[1] Displicence means dislike.
[2] Wesley changed “to fan” to “nor fans” in 1743.
[3] Wesley changed “And lo! I feel” to “When shall I feel” in 1739 and to “O might I feel” in 1743.