O helper of sinners distrest

Verse 1
O helper of sinners distrest,
To thee in a moment of hope
I make my imperfect request,
And feebly for mercy look up,
I live, to recover thy grace,
Thy favour and mercy to meet,
To see the bright beams of thy face,
And joyfully die at thy feet.

Verse 2
Ah! look not at what I have done,
Remember offences no more,
But send me the comforter down
My forfeited peace to restore,
The pardon I once had in thee,
O write it again on my heart,
And then from my prison set free,
And bid me in triumph depart.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “For a Backslider.” This hymn appears in the mid-1750s manuscript “MS Richmond.” This manuscript is part of the collection of the Methodist Archive and Research Centre in The John Rylands Library, The University of Manchester (accession number MA 1977/551, Charles Wesley Notebooks Box 1). Accessed through the website of The Center for Studies in the Wesleyan Tradition, Duke Divinity School. Published in S.T. Kimbrough Jr. and Oliver A. Beckerlegge, eds., The Unpublished Poetry of Charles Wesley, vol. 3 (Nashville: Kingswood Books, 1992) page 312.
Publishing: Public Domain