With pity, Lord, the men behold

Verse 1
With pity, Lord, the men behold
Lull’d in a false presumptuous peace,
Thro’ pride secure, thro’ error bold
To claim thy unfelt promises,
To boast of grace they have not known,
As GOD and heaven were all their own.

Verse 2
The foretasts of alluring love
If for the gospel-faith they take,
Their hearts of unbelief reprove,
Their fond deluded souls awake,
Where in the mouth of hell they lie,
The fancied portal of the sky.

Verse 3
When wounded by thy Spirit’s sword
Their vain pretensions they forego,
Jesus, pronounce the healing word,
The true substantial faith bestow,
The evidence of things unseen,
The power divine, that saves from sin.

Verse 4
Strength from the Lord, and righteousness
The proof of their acceptance be,
And lowly fear, and ruling peace,
And restless hungrings after Thee,
Declare thy dying love reveal’d
And clearly speak their pardon seal’d.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “For the Pretenders to Forgiveness.” This hymn was included in a manuscript titled “Hymns of Intercession” or “MS Intercession.” This manuscript is held by the Methodist Archive and Research Centre of the John Rylands Library at The University of Manchester (accession number DDCW 6/68–70). Accessed through the website of The Center for Studies in the Wesleyan Tradition, Duke Divinity School. Published in S.T. Kimbrough Jr. and Oliver A. Beckerlegge, eds., The Unpublished Poetry of Charles Wesley, vol. 3 (Nashville: Kingswood Books, 1992), pages 234-35.
Publishing: Public Domain