Unclean, of life and heart unclean

Verse 1
Unclean, of life and heart unclean,
How shall I in his sight appear!
Conscious of my inveterate sin
I blush, and tremble to draw near;
Yet thro’ the garment of his word
I humbly seek to touch my Lord.

Verse 2
The smallest things, the weakest means,
The mournful fast, the plaintive prayer
His sanctifying power dispense,
His efficacious grace confer,
And thro’ his sacramental cloaths
The healing emanation flows.

Verse 3
Yet not in outward veils of grace,
But in Himself the virtue lies,
Th’ infusion of his righteousness
This fountain of corruption dries;
And sure as I in Christ believe,
I shall a perfect cure receive.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘A woman which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment. For she said &c.’—[Matt. 9,] v. 20, 21.” This hymn appears in the 1766 manuscript “MS Matthew.” 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 1977/577, 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. 10 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1870), page 224.
Publishing: Public Domain