I am the man who long have known

Verse 1
I am the man, who long have known
The fierceness of temptation’s rage!
And still to God for help I groan:
When shall my groans his help engage? (Ex. 2:23-24, Ps. 6:6, Ps. 38:9)

Verse 2
Out of the deep on Christ I call, (Ps. 130:1-2)
In bitterness of spirit cry; (I Sam. 1:10, Job 7:11, Isa. 38:15)
Broken upon that stone I fall,
I fall,—the chief of sinners I! (Isa. 8:14-15, Matt. 21:44, Luke 20:18, I Tim. 1:15)

Verse 3
Saviour of men, my sad complaint (I Tim. 4:10)
Let me into thy bosom pour, (Ps. 62:8, Ps. 142:2)
Beneath my load of sin I faint, (Ps. 38:4, Ps. 40:12)
And hell is ready to devour. (Isa. 5:14)

Verse 4
A devil to myself I am,
Yet cannot ‘scape the flesh I tear, (Mark 5:5, Mark 9:18, Mark 9:20)
Beast, fiend, and legion is my name, (Mark 5:9, Luke 8:30)
My lot the blackness of despair.

Verse 5
Why then in this unequal strife,
To Tophet’s utmost margin driven, (II Kings 23:10, Isa. 30:33)
Still gasps my parting soul for life,
Nor quite gives up her claim to heaven? (Ps. 119:81)

Verse 6
Why hopes for help my drooping heart, (Ps. 42:5, Ps. 42:11)
(Hopes against hope) when none is nigh? (Ps. 22:11, Rom. 4:18)
I cannot from my Lord depart,
But kiss the feet at which I die. (Luke 7:38, Luke 7:45)

Verse 7
My Lord, (I still will call thee mine,
Tho’[1] sentenc’d to eternal pain;)
Thou wouldest not thy cup decline, (Matt. 26:39, Matt. 26:42, Mark 14:36, Luke 22:42, John 18:11)
The vengeance due to guilty man. (Isa. 53:5-6)

Verse 8
My sufferings all to thee are known,
Tempted in every point like me: (Heb. 2:18, Heb. 4:15)
Regard my griefs, regard thine own: (Isa. 53:3-4, Heb. 4:15)
Jesu! Remember Calvary! (Luke 23:33)

Verse 9
O call to mind thy earnest prayers, (Luke 22:41-42)
Thine agony and sweat of blood, (Luke 22:44)
Thy strong and bitter cries and tears, (Heb. 5:7)
Thy mortal groan, “My God! My God!” (Ps. 22:1, Matt. 27:46, Mark 15:34)

Verse 10
For whom didst thou the cross endure? (Heb. 12:2)
Who nail’d thy body to the tree? (Acts 5:30, Acts 10:39, I Pet. 2:24)
Did not thy death my life procure? (John 10:10-11, Rom. 5:10, II Cor. 5:14-15)
O let thy bowels answer me!

Verse 11
Art thou not touch’d with human woe?
Hath pity left the Son of man? (Heb. 2:17-18, Heb. 4:15)
Dost thou not all our sorrow know,
And claim a share in all our pain? (Isa. 53:3-4, Matt. 8:17)

Verse 12
Canst thou forget thy days of flesh? (Heb. 5:7)
Canst thou my miseries not feel? (Heb. 4:15)
Thy tender heart—it bleeds afresh!
It bleeds!—And thou art Jesus still!

Verse 13
I feel, I feel thee now the same, (Heb. 13:8)
Kindled thy kind relentings are; (Hos. 11:8)
These meltings from thy bowels came, (Jer. 31:20)
Thy Spirit groan’d this inward prayer. (Rom. 8:26)

Verse 14
Thy prayer is heard, thy will is done! (Luke 22:42, Heb. 5:7)
Light in thy light at length I see; (Ps. 36:9)
Thou wilt preserve my soul thine own, (Ps. 121:7)
And shew forth all thy power in me. (Rom. 9:17)

Verse 15
My peace returns, my fears retire, (John 14:27)
I find thee lifting up my head, (Ps. 3:3)
Trembling I now to heaven aspire,
And hear the voice that wakes the dead. (John 5:25, John 5:28-29, I Thess. 4:16)

Verse 16
Have I not heard, have I not known,
That thou the everlasting Lord, (Isa. 40:28)
Whom earth and heaven their Maker own,
Art always faithful to thy word? (Num. 23:19, Heb. 10:23, II Tim. 2:13)

Verse 17
Thou wilt not break a bruised reed, (Isa. 42:3, Matt. 12:20)
Or quench the faintest spark of grace,
Till thro’ the soul thy power is spread,
Thy all-victorious righteousness. (Isa. 42:4, Matt. 12:20)

Verse 18
With labour faint thou wilt not fail,
Or wearied give the sinner o’er,
Till in this earth thy judgment dwell, (Isa. 40:28, Isa. 42:4)
And born of God I sin no more. (I John 3:9, I John 5:18)

Verse 19
The day of small and feeble things
I know thou never wilt despise; (Zech. 4:10)
I know, with healing in his wings,
The Sun of righteousness shall rise. (Mal. 4:2)

Verse 20
My heart thou wilt anew create, (Ps. 51:10, Ezek. 36:26-27)
The fulness of thy Spirit give: (John 3:34)
In stedfast hope for this I wait, (Ps. 130:5)
And confident in Christ believe.

[1] Wesley changed “Tho’” to “Till” in 1743.