Lord, how long, how long shall I

Verse 1
Lord, how long, how long shall I
Lift my weary eyes in pain?
Seek, but never find thee nigh,
Ask thy love, but ask in vain,
Crush’d beneath my nature’s load,
Darkly feeling after God!

Verse 2
O disclose thy lovely face,
Quicken all my drooping powers!
Gasps my fainting soul for grace,
As a thirsty land for showers:
Haste, my Lord, no longer stay,
Come, my Jesus, come away!

Verse 3
Well thou know’st I cannot rest,
Till I fully rest in thee,
Till I am of thee possest,
Till from sin and self set free,
All the life of faith I prove,
All the joy and heaven of love.

Verse 4
See my sad inconstant state,
Give me, Lord, this root within:
Trembling for thy love I wait,
Still relapsing into sin,
Falling, till thy love I feel,
Ever sinking into hell.

Verse 5
With me O continue, Lord,
Keep me, or from thee I fly:
Strength and comfort from thy word
Imperceptibly supply;
Hold me till I apprehend,
Make me faithful to the end.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: "My soul gaspeth for thee, as a thirsty land." Introduced in a hymnal jointly credited to John and Charles Wesley; it is more likely than not that Charles wrote it but not certain. Introduced in Hymns and Sacred Poems (1740), published by John and Charles Wesley (London: William Strahan, 1740). Published in The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Collected and Arranged by G. Osborn, Vol. 1 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1868), page 254.
Publishing: Public Domain