Our holy God the smallest fault

Verse 1
Our holy God the smallest fault
Severely chastens in his own;
So base a misbelieving thought
In those who have his goodness known!
The sin he graciously forgives,
Nor yet remits the total pain,
But marks of his displeasure leaves,
Lest saints should doubt his love again.

Verse 2
Nine months for a mistrustful word,
Nine months of silence must atone,[1]
That starting from the sin abhor’d,
The sin which all contains in one,
We may our unbelief deny,
The words of truth with joy embrace,
On Christ, the Power of God, rely,
And calm expect his promis’d grace.

[1] Wesley added the footnote: “Improperly speaking, not evangelically.”

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘Behold, thou shalt be dumb, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season.'—[Luke 1,] v. 20.” This hymn appears in the 1766 manuscript “MS Luke.” 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 1977/575, Charles Wesley Notebooks Box 3). Accessed through the website of The Center for Studies in the Wesleyan Tradition, Duke Divinity School. Published in The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Collected and Arranged by G. Osborn, Vol. 11 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1871), page 104.
Publishing: Public Domain