Depth of Mercy! / Jesus, the Sinner's Friend

Two powerful Charles Wesley hymns:

 

Depth of Mercy!

 

Depth of mercy! can there be

Mercy still reserved for me?

Can my God His wrath forbear -

Me, the chief of sinners, spare?

 

I have long withstood His grace,

Long provoked Him to His face,

Would not hearken to His calls,

grieved Him by a thousand falls.

 

Now incline me to repent;

Let me now my sins lament;

Now my foul revolt deplore,

Weep, believe, and sin no more.

 

There for me the Saviour stands,

Holding forth His wounded hands;

God is love! I know, I feel,

Jesus weeps and loves me still.


Jesus, the Sinner's Friend

 

Jesus, the sinner's Friend, to thee,

Lost and undone, for aid I flee,

Weary of earth, myself, and sin:

Open Thine arms, and take me in.

 

Pity and heal my sinsick soul;

'Tis Thou alone canst make me whole:

Dark, till in me Thine image shine,

And lost, I am, till Thou art mine.

 

At last I own it cannot be

That I should fit myself for Thee;

Here, then, to Thee I all resign;

Thine is the work, and only Thine.

 

What shall I say Thy grace to move?

Lord, I am sin, but Thou art love:

I give up every plea beside -

Lord, I am lost, but Thou hast died.

But, O, Thyself Reveal!

I just finished singing through "The Eucharistic Hymns of John and Charles Wesley" during Evening Prayer, last night.  (Some really good stuff there!  I'll have to blog about the Eucharist as a sacrifice, somewhere down the road.)   

This morning, I began singing through "Hymn Poems of Charles Wesley For Reading and Singing."  The second hymn is "Jesus, We Look to Thee."  The last verse of the hymn encapsulates what many of us in the Wesleyan-holiness tradition often long for during our services of worship.  On the one hand, it expresses a conviction of the objective presence of  God with us in worship.  On the other hand, it cries out for the "manifest presence" of the Lord in the midst of the worshipping people of God.

I invite you to sing this, my prayer for Sunday, paying special attention to the final verse:

Jesus, we look to Thee,

Thy promised presence claim;

Thou in the midst of us shalt be,

Assembled in Thy Name:

 

Thy Name salvation is,

Which here we come to prove;

Thy Name is life, and health, and peace,

And everlasting love.

 

We meet, the grace to take

Which Thou hast freely given;

We meet on earth for Thy dear sake

That we may meet in heaven.

 

Present we know Thou art;

But, O, Thyself reveal!

Now, Lord, let ev'ry waiting heart

The mighty comfort feel.