Stay, thou insulted Spirit, stay

Stay, thou insulted Spirit, stay

Author: Charles Wesley
Published in 351 hymnals

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Reflections on the Holy Spirit (Hymns of…

Full Text

1 Stay, thou insulted Spirit, stay,
Though I have done thee such despite;
Cast not a sinner quite away,
Nor take thine everlasting flight.

2 Though I have most unfaithful been,
Of all, whoe'er thy grace received;
Ten thousand times thy goodness seen,
Ten thousand times thy goodness grieved;

3 But O! the chief of sinners spare,
In honor of my great High Priest;
Nor in thy righteous anger swear
T' exclude me from thy people's rest.

4 If yet thou canst my sins forgive,
E'en now O Lord, relieve my woes;
Me to thy rest of love receive,
And bless me with a calm repose,

5 E'en now my weary soul release,
And raise me by thy gracious hand;
Guide me into thy perfect peace,
And bring me to the promised land.

The Christian's duty, exhibited in a series of hymns, 1791

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Author: Charles Wesley

Charles Wesley, the son of Samuel Wesley, was born at Epworth, Dec. 18, 1707. He was educated at Westminster School and afterwards at Christ Church, Oxford, where he graduated M.A. In 1735, he took Orders and immediately proceeded with his brother John to Georgia, both being employed as missionaries of the S.P.G. He returned to England in 1736. For many years he engaged with his brother in preaching the Gospel. He died March 29, 1788. To Charles Wesley has been justly assigned the appellation of the "Bard of Methodism." His prominence in hymn writing may be judged from the fact that in the "Wesleyan Hymn Book," 623 of the 770 hymns were written by him; and he published more than thirty poetical works, written either by himself alone,… Go to person page >

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Text Information

First Line: Stay, thou insulted Spirit, stay
Author: Charles Wesley
Meter: 8.8.8.8
Language: English
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Notes

Stay, Thou insulted Spirit, stay. C. Wesley. [Lent.] Published in Hymns and Sacred Poems, 1749, vol. i., No. 41, in 7 stanzas of 4 lines. (Poetical Works, 1868-72, vol. iv., p. 370.) It was included in the Wesleyan Hymn Book, 1780, No. 155, with the omission of stanzas vi., and the change of stanzas ii., 1. 4, from, "For forty long rebellious years" (the forty referred to his own age at the time), to "For many long," &c. The Wesleyan Hymn Book form of the text is in most of the Methodist collections, and a few others. Other forms of the text are:—(1) "Stay, injured, grieved, Spirit, stay," in Bickersteth's Christian Psalmody, 1833, and later collections; and (2) "Stay, Thou long-suffering Spirit, stay," in the American Methodist Episcopal Hymnal, 1878.

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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