Saviour of men, how long shall I

Verse 1
Saviour of men, how long shall I
Forgotten at thy footstool lie!
Wash’d in[1] the fountain of thy blood,
Yet groaning still to be renew’d;

Verse 2
A miracle of grace and sin,
Pardon’d, yet still alas unclean!
Thy righteousness is counted mine:
When will it in my nature shine?

Verse 3
Darksom I still remain and void,
And painfully unlike my God,
Till thou diffuse a brighter ray,
And turn the glimm’ring into day.

Verse 4
Why didst thou the first gift impart,
And sprinkle with thy blood my heart,
But that my sprinkled heart might prove,
The life and liberty of love?

Verse 5
Why didst thou bid my terrors cease,
And sweetly fill my soul with peace,
But that my peaceful soul might know
The joys that from believing flow?

Verse 6
See then thy ransom’d servant, see,
I hunger, Lord, I thirst for thee!
Feed me with love, thy Spirit give,
I gasp, in him, in thee to live.

Verse 7
The promis’d Comforter impart,
Open the fountain in my heart;
There let him flow with springing joys,
And into life eternal rise.

Verse 8
There let him ever, ever dwell,
The pledge, the witness, and the seal;
I’ll glory then in sin forgiven,
In Christ my life, my love, my heaven!

[1] Wesley changed “Wash’d in” to “Close by” in 1743.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: "Acts i. 4." This is the original version of this hymn, as first published in "Hymns and Sacred Poems (1739)," published by John and Charles Wesley (London: William Strahan, 1739). 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 95.
Publishing: Public Domain