Jesus, let Thy pitying eye

Verse 1
Jesus, let thy pitying eye
Call back a wandring sheep,
False to thee like Peter I
Would fain like Peter weep:
Let me be by grace restor’d,
On me be all long-suffering shewn;
Turn, and look upon me, Lord,
And break my heart of stone.

Verse 2
Saviour, Prince enthron’d above,
Repentance to impart,
Give me thro’ thy dying love
The humble contrite heart:
Give what I have long implor’d,
A portion of thy grief unknown;
Turn, and look, &c.

Verse 3
In restoring love again,
O Jesus, visit me,
Give me back that pleasing pain,
That blessed misery:
Now thy tendering grace afford,
And make me thine afflicted one:
Turn, and look, &c.

Verse 4
Harder than the flinty rock
My stubborn heart remains,
’Till I feel thy mercy’s stroke,
I only bite my chains,
Sinning on, though self-abhor’d,
As devils in their chains I groan:
Turn, and look, &c.

Verse 5
For thine own compassion’s sake
The gracious wonder shew,
Cast my sins behind thy back,
And wash me white as snow;
If thy bowels now are stir’d,
If now I would myself bemoan,
Turn, and look, &c.

Verse 6
See me, Saviour, from above,
Nor suffer me to die,
Life, and happiness, and love
Drop from thy gracious eye;
Speak the reconciling word,
And let thy mercy melt me down;
Turn, and look, &c.

Verse 7
Look, as when thine eye pursued
The first apostate man,
Saw him weltring in his blood,
And bad him rise again;
Speak my paradise restor’d,
Redeem me by thy grace alone:
Turn, and look, &c.

Verse 8
Look, as when thy pity saw
Thine own in a strange land,
Forc’d t’ obey the tyrant’s law,
And feel his heavy hand:
Speak the soul-redeeming word,
And out of Egypt call thy son;
Turn, and look, &c.

Verse 9
Look, as when thy weeping eye
The bloody city view’d,
Those, who ston’d and doom’d to die
The prophets, and their God:
I deserve their sad reward,
But this my gracious day I own:
Turn, and look, &c.

Verse 10
Look, as when thy grace beheld
The harlot in distress,
Dried her tears, her pardon seal’d;
And bad her go in peace:
Foul like her, and self-abhor’d,
I at thy feet for mercy groan:
Turn, and look, &c.

Verse 11
Look, as when condemn’d for them
Thou didst thy followers see,
“Daughters of Jerusalem,
Weep for yourselves, not me!”
Am I by my God deplor’d,
And shall I not myself bemoan?
Turn, and look, &c.

Verse 12
Look, as when thy languid eye
Was clos’d that we might live,
Father (at the point to die
My Saviour gasp’d) forgive!
Surely with that dying word
He turns, and looks, and cries ’Tis done!
O my bleeding, loving Lord,
Thou break’st my heart of stone!

Hymnal/Album: 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 405.
Publishing: Public Domain