My Father, O my Father, hear

Verse 1
My Father, O my Father hear
Thy weakest child’s imperfect call!
Now as a servant I appear,
And yet thou know’st me heir of all:
O make me know as I am known;
Speak, Father; am I not thy son?

Verse 2
Allur’d by unresisted grace,
Thy footsteps why did I pursue?
Why did I ever seek thy face?
What secret power my spirit drew
After I knew not whom to run?
Speak, Father; am I not thy son?

Verse 3
From whom have all my blessings flow’d?
Who gave me these enlarg’d desires?
Who made me restless after God,
And burnt me up with inward fires?
O let the author now be shewn,
Speak, Father; am I not thy son?

Verse 4
Who held my fleeting soul in life,
And turn’d aside the fatal hour?
Who, when I oft gave o’er the strife,
Preserv’d me from the adverse power,
Remov’d the death I would not shun?
Speak, Father; am I not thy son?

Verse 5
When twice ten thousand times I fell,
Who was it rais’d the sinner up,
The sinner sinking into hell?
How came I by this spark of hope?
Who quicken’d me, a lifeless stone?
Speak, Father; am I not thy son?

Verse 6
If thou didst see me in my blood,
And bid the dying sinner live,
If freely I am counted good,
O let me all thy life receive,
O do not leave thy work undone:
Speak, Father; am I not thy son?

Verse 7
Led thro’ the howling wilderness
If now I view the promis’d land,
Here let my weary wandrings cease,
Divide the waves with thy right-hand,
Bid me thro’ Jordan’s stream go on;
Speak, Father; am I not thy son?

Verse 8
Or if in my forlorn estate
Thy will appoints me to remain,
Behold me still content to wait
In doubt, and fear, in grief, and pain,
Only when all my hope is gone,
Speak, Father; am I not thy son?

Verse 9
Alas! I know not how to pray,
But all my wants are known to thee,
Father, instruct me what to say,
Or interceed thyself for me,
Then hearken to thy Spirit’s groan!
Speak, Father; am I not thy son?

Verse 10
If now the bowels of thy love
Yearn over such a worm as me,
Send down thy Spirit from above,
And make me clean, and set me free,
The promis’d Comforter send down;
Speak, Father; am I not thy son?

Verse 11
If now thou knockest at my heart,
Now open to thyself the door,
The gift unspeakable impart;
The kingdom to my soul restore,
Call home, call home thy banish’d one;
Speak, Father; am I not thy son?

Verse 12
Hast thou not made me willing, Lord!
Do I not now my sins confess?
Be just, and faithful to thy word,
Cleanse me from all unrighteousness,
Finish the work thou hast begun;
Speak, Father; am I not thy son?

Verse 13
Hath not my Saviour died to make
The child of wrath a child of God?
Hast thou not pardon’d for his sake
The soul, for which he shed his blood?
And died he not for me t’ atone?
Speak, Father; am I not thy son?

Verse 14
I cannot rest ’till pure within;
Tho’ he hath wash’d away my stains,
Remov’d the guilt and power of sin,
Yet while the carnal mind remains,
I still must make my ceaseless moan;
Speak, Father; am I not thy son?

Verse 15
Or if my endless groans and sighs
Thy kind compassion cannot move,
Be deaf to all my prayers and cries,
But hear my Advocate above,
Hear him, who pleads before thy throne,
“Speak, Father; is he not thy son!”

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: "In Doubt." Introduced in Hymns and Sacred Poems (1742), published by John and Charles Wesley (London: William Strahan, 1742). Published in The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Collected and Arranged by G. Osborn, Vol. 2 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1869), page 203.
Publishing: Public Domain