When Christ and Purity is near,
He starts appall’d with guilty fear,
As from his deadly foe,
All commerce with the Lord disclaims,
Aghast as if he saw the flames
The yawning gulph below.
When Christ and purity is near
Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘When he saw Jesus he cried out &c.’—[Luke 8,] v. 28.” 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 172.
Publishing: Public Domain