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Hymns · 1739

Weary of struggling with my pain

Songwriter Charles Wesley

Made popular by John Wesley, Charles Wesley

Details

Hymnal / album Hymns and Sacred Poems (1739)
Publisher William Strahan
Copyright Public Domain
Notes Originally titled: "Hymn for the Epiphany." This is the original version of this hymn, as first published in "Hymns and Sacred Poems (1739)," published by John and Charles Wesley (London: William Strahan, 1739). 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 184.

Scripture connections

Lyrics

Verse 1
Weary of struggling with my pain,
Hopeless to burst my nature’s chain,
Hardly I give the contest o’er,
I seek to free myself no more.

Verse 2
From my own works at last I cease, (Heb. 4:10)
God that creates must seal[1] my peace;
Fruitless my toil and vain my care,
And[2] all my fitness is despair.

Verse 3
Lord, I despair myself to heal,
I see my sin, but cannot feel:
I cannot, till thy Spirit blow, (John 3:8)
And bid th’ obedient waters flow.

Verse 4
’Tis thine a heart of flesh to give, (Ezek. 11:19, Ezek. 36:26)
Thy gifts I only can receive: (John 3:27)
Here then to thee I all resign,
To draw, redeem, and seal is thine. (John 6:44, Eph. 1:13-14, Eph. 4:30)

Verse 5
With simple faith, to thee I call,
My light, my life, my Lord, my all: (Col. 3:4, Col. 3:11)
I wait the moving of the pool; (John 5:3-4)
I wait the word that speaks me whole. (Ps. 107:20, Matt. 8:8, Luke 7:7, John 5:8-9)

Verse 6
Speak gracious Lord, my sickness cure, (Ps. 107:20, Matt. 8:8, Luke 7:7)
Make my infected nature pure; (Ezek. 36:25)
Peace, righteousness and joy impart, (Rom. 14:17)
And pour thyself into my heart.

[1] Wesley changed “that creates must seal” to “must create and seal” in 1743.
[2] Wesley changed “and” to “for” in 1743.