Show me the reason, O my God

Representative Text

1 Shew me the Reason, O my God,
Why I afflicted am;
Since thou hast wash'd me in thy Blood,
And cover'd all my shame.

2 Why yet must rebel Nature live
To fill my Heart with Pain?
Why yet my Jesus must I grieve?
Shall Nature ne'er be slain?

3 Ten thousand Tears, more num'rous Sighs,
Flow from this Heart of mine,
In ardent Pray'r, with piercing Cries,
I seek Redress in vain.

4 Whilst, passing thro' baptismal Fire,
My Spirit frets and pines,
And, languishing with fierce Desire,
Would know thy deep Designs.

5 What! must I lose my Friends and Fame,
All that's to be desir'd?
Have vile Contempt pour'd on my Name,
Abhorr'd, but not admir'd?

6 What! must Temptations yet prevail,
And Satan sift my Heart?
Whilst inbred Lusts my Mind assail,
And cause me grievous Smart?

7 Must Heaven, Earth, and Hell unite,
Against me in this War?
How shall I bear this dreadful Fight,
Or keep from foul Despair?

8 Take up the Cross, thyself deny,
(O most ungrateful Sound!)
Alas! I burn, and sin, and die,
And feel the Spirit's Wound.

9 Is there no Way to glorify
Thy Death and honour'd Name,
Except I to myself thus die,
And swim thro' Floods of Shame?

10 What! be deny'd my Heart's Desire,
My Expectations crost,
Whilst all my Joys of Sense expire,
My Reputation lost?

11 The Thought of this distracts my Heart,
'Tis worse than Death or Hell;
The Torment, Pangs, and dreadful Smart,
My Tongue can never tell.

12 Peace, O my Soul; this is the Path
That leads to Rest divine:
'Tis this illustrates Jesu's Death,
And makes his Goodness shine.

13 Now, with my Lord nail'd to his Cross,
I feel the untold Pain;
But, ah! how loath to suffer Loss
Am I, tho' 'is my Gain!

14 O Lamb! 'tis thou dost exercise
Me with this searching Flame,
And, thro' thy Suff'rings, wilt baptize
Me into all thy Name.

15 Since this I know, I check my Fears,
And all I am resign;
Fly from my Heart, ye anxious Cares,
My Lamb, I'm wholly thine.

Source: Christian Hymns, Poems, and Spiritual Songs: sacred to the praise of God our Saviour #I.XX

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Author: James Relly

James Relly was born about 1722 at Jeffreston, Pembrokeshire, Wales, and died in 1778. He was converted to Christianity during the Great Awakening ushered in by George Whitefield. He worked under George Whitefield as a Calvinistic Methodist preacher and missionary. However, Whitefield and Relly separated ways over Relly's seemingly universalist teaching that all humanity was elect (i.e. saved) when Christ took the punishment for all sin when he died. He also departed from both the Calvinists and Methodists by taking the doctrine of Justification further, in teaching that believers no longer sin and the Law's sole purpose is to condemn humanity and point them to Christ. He was the mentor of John Murray, the founder of the Universalist Ch… Go to person page >

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