When, gracious Lord, ah, tell me when

Verse 1
When, gracious Lord, ah tell me when
Shall I into myself retire?
To thee discover all my pain,
And shew my troubled heart’s desire?

Verse 2
I long to pour out all my soul,
Sorrow, and sin’s just weight to feel,
To smart, till thou hast made me whole,
To mourn till thou hast said, “Be still.”

Verse 3
Sick of desire for thee I cry,
And, weary of forbearing, groan:
Horror, and sin are ever nigh,
My comfort, and my God are gone.

Verse 4
Trembling in dread suspense I stand;
Sinking, and falling into sin,
Till thou reach out thy mighty hand,
And snatch me from this hell within.

Verse 5
Fain would I rise, and get me hence,
From every fond engagement free,
Pleasure, and praise, and self, and sense,
And all that holds me back from thee.

Verse 6
O that the mild and peaceful dove,
Would lend his wings to aid my flight!
Soon would I then far off remove,
And hide me from this hateful light.

Verse 7
Where none but the all-seeing eye
Could mark, or interrupt my grief,
No human comforter be nigh,
To torture me with vain relief.

Verse 8
Far in some lonely, desart place,
For ever, ever would I sit,
Languish to see the Saviour’s face,
And perish, weeping at his feet.

Verse 9
O what is life without my God!
A burden more than I can bear:
I struggle to throw off the load,
Me from myself I strive to tear.

Verse 10
I ever gasp in Christ to live,
O that to me the grace were given!
Had I thy heaven and earth to give,
I’d buy thee with thy earth and heaven.

Verse 11
If sufferings could thy love obtain,
I’d suffer all things for thy love:
Send me to hell, I’d there remain:
But let me there thy favour prove.

Verse 12
Let me thy righteous doom applaud,
Thine everlasting truth declare,
And vindicate the ways of God,
And glorify thy justice there!

Verse 13
Let me—I know not how to pray;
My anguish cannot be exprest:
Jesu, thou seest what I would say;
O let thy bowels speak the rest!

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: "Mourning." Introduced in a hymnal jointly credited to John and Charles Wesley; it is more likely than not that Charles wrote it but not certain. Introduced in Hymns and Sacred Poems (1740), published by John and Charles Wesley (London: William Strahan, 1740). 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 250.
Publishing: Public Domain