And Is There Hope For Me

I read something this afternoon that I just had to share. It's a poem by Charles Wesley and it's beautiful. The poem is actually unfinished and it is a prayer that Wesley probably wrote around December 20, 1748. I can't help but pray this prayer for myself. I found the poem in a book (somewhat ironically) entitled The Unpublished Poetry of Charles Wesley.

And Is There Hope For Me

1. And is there Hope for me
In Life's distracting Maze,
And shall I live on Earth to see
A few unruffled Days?
A Man of Sorrows I,
A sufferer from the Womb,
'Twas all my Hope in Peace to die,
And rest within my Tomb

2. How then can I conceive
A Good for me design'd
The greatest God Himself could give,
The Parent of Mankind?
A good by Sovereign Love
To sinless Adam given
His joyous Paradise t'improve,
And turn his Earth to Heaven.

3. God of unbounded Grace,
If yet Thou wilt bestow
On me the Vilest of the Race
Thy choicest Gift below;
My drooping Heart prepare
The blessing to receive
And bid the Child of sad Despair
With Confidence Believe.

4. My new & strange Distress
To Thee I simply own,
Inur'd to Pain I start from Peace
And dread a Good unknown:
My Heart Thou seest it ache
Its dearest Wish t'obtain
And know'st my Fear of measuring back
My steps to Earth again.

5. Assure my trembling Soul
Of they decisive Will
My endless Doubts & Fears controul,
And bid my Heart be still:
Regard thy Servant's Call
And shed thy Love abroad,
The Sign Infallible that all
My Works are wrought in God.

6. Thou, Lord, direct my Ways,
On all my Counsels shine
And lead by thine unerring Grace
This feeble Soul of mine;
Thy Pard'ning Love reveal
In Proof of thy Decree,
And stamp Her with thy Spirit's Seal
The Friend design'd for me.

7. With stedfast Faith & Love
Le me thy Creature take
As a good Angel from above,
Sent down for Jesus' sake.
Not to inthrall my Will
Not to put out my Eyes
But fix my Heart & fire my Zeal
And lift me to the Skies.

8. I have not time to finish: Your Heart will
say Amen to a Prayer in which yourself are
so nearly concerned. L[ondo]n. Tues. N[igh]t.

Kimbrough, ST, Jr., Beckerlegge, Oliver A. (eds) The Unpublished Poetry of Charles Wesley, vol. 1, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 1988. ISBN 068743310


My heart does indeed say "Amen" to this prayer.

I found this book at a local bookstore here in Louisville called The Christian Book Nook. I'd never heard of the book before but I've really been enjoying it lately. I've tried to find subsequent volumes but no store here has them. I'm sure Amazon or one of the other online bookstores has them available. If you've never read anything by or about Charles Wesley, you should. Just pick up a hymn book somewhere and notice how many hymns are credited to him. For all my fellow Baptists, you can even find some of his hymns in our hymnal.

Casey

"be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father" Ephesians 5: 18b-20