Where shall my wondering soul begin?
How shall I all to heaven aspire?
A slave redeemed from death and sin,
a brand plucked from eternal fire,
how shall I equal triumphs raise,
and sing my great deliverer’s praise?
O how shall I the goodness tell,
Father, which thou to me hast showed?
That I, a child of wrath and hell,
I should be called a child of God!
Should know, should feel my sins forgiven,
blest with this antepast of heaven!
And shall I slight my Father’s love,
or basely fear his gifts to own?
Unmindful of his favors prove,
shall I, the hallowed cross to shun,
refuse his righteousness to impart,
By hiding it within my heart?
Outcasts of men, to you I call,
harlots and publicans and thieves;
he spreads his arms to embrace you all,
sinners alone his grace receive.
No need of him the righteous have;
he came the lost to seek and save.
Come, O my guilty brethren, come,
groaning beneath your load of sin;
his bleeding heart shall make you room,
his open side shall take you in.
He calls you now, invites you home;
come, O my guilty brethren, come.
For you the prple current flowed
in pardon from his wounded side,
languished for you the eternal God,
for you the Prince of Glory died.
Believe, and all your guilt’s forgiven,
only believe- and yours is heaven.
This is generally thought to be part of the 8-verse hymn, which Charles Wesley wrote shortly after his conversion, perhaps the one intended in the comment on the conversion of his brother on May 24, 1738: “Towards ten, my brother was brought in triumph by a troop of our friends, and declared, ‘I believe.’ We sang the hymn with great joy, and parted with a prayer.”
by Charles Wesley, 1783
from The United Methodist Hymnal, p. 342
Copyright © 1989 The United Methodist Publishing House
Nashville, Tennessee USA
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