Still, O Lord, for Thee I tarry

Verse 1
Still, O Lord, for thee I tarry,
Full of sorrows, sins, and wants;
Thee, and all thy saints I weary
With my sad but vain complaints;
Sawn asunder by temptation,
Tortur’d by distracting care,
Kill’d by doubts’ severe vexation,
Sorer evil than despair.

Verse 2
Will the fight be never over?
Will the ballance never turn?
Still ’twixt life and death I hover,
Bear what is not to be borne;
Who can bear a wounded spirit?
Whither must my spirit go?
Shall I heaven or hell inherit?
Let me die my doom to know.

Verse 3
All in vain for death I languish,
Death from his pursuer flies:
Still I feel the gnawing anguish,
Feel the worm that never dies;
Still in horrid expectation
Like the damn’d in hell I groan,
Envy them their swift damnation,
Fearful to inhance my own.

Verse 4
Jesus, see thy fallen creature,
Fallen at thy feet I lie,
Act according to thy nature,
Bid the sinner live or die;
Of my pain fill up the measure,
If thou canst no more forgive:
If thou in my life hast pleasure,
Speak, and now my soul shall live.

Hymnal/Album: Introduced in Hymns and Sacred Poems Vol. 1, published by Charles Wesley (Bristol: Felix Farley, 1749). Published in The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Collected and Arranged by G. Osborn, Vol. 4 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1869), page 352.
Publishing: Public Domain