Classic Poem

Lord, when thy face thou hid'st,
And leav'st me long to plore,
I faithless doubt of all thou didst
And wrought'st for me before.

No marks of love I find,
No grains of grace, but wracks;
No track of heav'n is left behind,
No groan, no smoaking flax.

But say, if all the gusts
And grains of love be spent,
Say, Farewell Christ, and welcome lusts;
Stop, stop, I melt, I faint.

Lord, yet thou hast my heart,
This bargain black I hate;
I dare not, cannot, will not part
With thee at such a rate.

Once, like a Father good,
Thou didst with grace perfume;
Wast thou a Father to conclude
With dreadful judge's doom?

Confirm thy former deed,
Reform what is defil'd;
I was, I am, I'll still abide
Thy choice, thy charge, thy child.

Love-seals thou didst impart,
Lock'd up in mind I have;
Hell cannot rase out of my heart
What heav'n did there engrave.

Thou once didst make me whole
By thy almighty hand;
Thou mad'st me vow and gift my soul;
Both vow and gift shall stand,

But since my folly gross
My joyful cup did spill,
Make me the captive of thy cross,
Submissive to thy will.

Self in myself I hate,
That's matter of my groan;
Nor can I rid me from the mate
That causes me to moan.

O frail, inconstant flesh!
Soon trapt in ev'ry gin;
Soon turn'd, o'erturn'd, and so afresh
Plung'd in the gulph of sin.

Shall I be slave to sin,
My Lord's most bloody foe?
I feel its pow'rful sway within:
How long shall it be so?

How long Lord shall I stay?
How long in Mesech here?
Dishon'ring thee from day to day,
Whose name's to me so dear?

While sin, Lord, breeds my grief,
And makes me sadly pine;
With blinks of grace, O grant relief,
Till beams of glory shine!