John Wesley: Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley - Christian Classics Ethereal Library

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A Hymn for Midnight

A Hymn for Midnight¹⁸¹⁸ In some editions this title was changed to “A Midnight Hymn for one under the Law.” Wesley saw how this phrase had been misapprehended; and in a copy of the 5th edition, now before me, it is corrected with his own hand to “A Midnight Hymn for one convinced of Sin.”

While midnight shades the earth o’erspread,

And veil the bosom of the deep,

Nature reclines her weary head,

And care respires and sorrows sleep:

My soul still aims at nobler rest,

Aspiring to her Saviour’s breast.

Aid me, ye hovering spirits near,

Angels and ministers of grace;

Who ever, while you guard us here,

Behold your Heavenly Father’s face!

Gently my raptured soul convey

To regions of eternal day.

Fain would I leave this earth below,

Of pain and sin the dark abode;

Where shadowy joy, or solid woe,

Allures, or tears me from my God:

Doubtful and insecure of bliss,

Since death alone confirms me His.¹⁹¹⁹ Against these words Wesley writes “No.” In the “Large Hymn-Book” we find them altered to “Since faith alone,” and “Error,” v.6, l.1, exchanged for “Sorrow.”

Till then, to sorrow born, I sigh,

And gasp, and languish after home;

Upward I send my streaming eye,

Expecting till the Bridegroom come

Come quickly, Lord! Thy own receive;

Now let me see Thy face, and live.

Absent from Thee, my exiled soul

Deep in a fleshly dungeon groans;

Around me clouds of darkness roll,

And labouring silence speaks my moans:

Come quickly, Lord! Thy face display,

And look my midnight into day.

Error, and sin, and death are o’er,

If Thou reverse the creature’s doom;

Sad Rachel weeps her loss no more,

If Thou, the God, the Saviour come:

Of Thee possest, in Thee we prove

The light, the life, the heaven of love.

¹⁸ In some editions this title was changed to “A Midnight Hymn for one under the Law.” Wesley saw how this phrase had been misapprehended; and in a copy of the 5th edition, now before me, it is corrected with his own hand to “A Midnight Hymn for one convinced of Sin.”

¹⁹ Against these words Wesley writes “No.” In the “Large Hymn-Book” we find them altered to “Since faith alone,” and “Error,” v.6, l.1, exchanged for “Sorrow.”

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A Hymn for Midnight

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A Hymn for Midnight1818 In some editions this title was changed to “A Midnight Hymn for one under the Law.” Wesley saw how this phrase had been misapprehended; and in a copy of the 5th edition, now before me, it is corrected with his own hand to “A Midnight Hymn for one convinced of Sin.”