While the world and sin oppress us

Verse 1
While the world and sin oppress us,
Strengthen’d by th’ infernal fiend,
We who keep the word of Jesus,
Suffer on, and wait the end;
Safe in manifold temptations
If his proffer’d grace we use;
But the souls that lose their patience,
They themselves forever lose.

Verse 2
Fix in us that quiet Spirit
Which in Thee our Head abode,
Crucified, we then shall bear it,
Bear, and bless the sacred load:
Arm us with thy self-denial,
With thy hope of joys above;
Bring us thro’ the fiery trial,
Perfected in meekest love.

Verse 3
Masters of our every passion
Who thy daily burthen bear,
Out of tenfold tribulation
Lo, we come thy throne to share,
Hold our souls in full subjection,
Till we into nothing fall;
Then we find our true perfection,
Feel, that Christ is all in all.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘In your patience possess ye your souls.’—Luke 21, v. 19.” 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 277.
Publishing: Public Domain