Praying for Repentance

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Father of lights, from whom proceeds

Author: Charles Wesley
Tune: NASHVILLE (Mason)
Published in 30 hymnals

Representative Text

1 Father of lights, from whom proceeds
Whate'er thy every creature needs;
Whose goodness, providently nigh,
Feeds the young ravens when they cry;
To thee I look; my heart prepare;
Suggest and hearken to my prayer.

2 Since by thy light myself I see
Naked, and poor, and void of thee,
Thine eyes must all my thoughts survey,
Preventing what my lips would say:
Thou seest my wants; for help they call
And, ere I speak, thou know'st them all.

3 Fain would I know, as known by thee,
And feel the indigence I see;
Fain would I all my vileness own,
And deep beneath the burden groan;
Abhor the pride that lurks within,
Detest and loathe myself and sin.

4 Ah, give me, Lord myself to feel;
My total misery reveal:
Ah, give me Lord, I still would say,
A heart to mourn, a heart to pray:
My business this, my only care--
My life, my every breath, be prayer.

Source: The Voice of Praise: a collection of hymns for the use of the Methodist Church #366

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Author: Charles Wesley

Charles Wesley, M.A. was the great hymn-writer of the Wesley family, perhaps, taking quantity and quality into consideration, the great hymn-writer of all ages. Charles Wesley was the youngest son and 18th child of Samuel and Susanna Wesley, and was born at Epworth Rectory, Dec. 18, 1707. In 1716 he went to Westminster School, being provided with a home and board by his elder brother Samuel, then usher at the school, until 1721, when he was elected King's Scholar, and as such received his board and education free. In 1726 Charles Wesley was elected to a Westminster studentship at Christ Church, Oxford, where he took his degree in 1729, and became a college tutor. In the early part of the same year his religious impressions were much deepene… Go to person page >

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First Line:	Father of lights, from whom proceeds
Title:	Praying for Repentance
Author:	Charles Wesley
Meter:	8.8.8.8.8.8
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

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Notes

Father of lights, from Whom proceeds. C. Wesley. First published in Hymns & Sacred Poems, 1739, in 8 stanzas of 6 lines, and entitled “A Prayer under Convictions." The first five stanzas were given in the Wesleyan Hymn Book, 1780, as No. 96, and repeated in later editions, and in other collections. Another arrangement appeared in Toplady's Psalms & Hymns, 1776, No. 284, and subsequent editions. It is in 8 stanzas. The first six are from the original as above, and the remaining two are the first and last stanzas of Psalms cxxxix. in the Wesley Hymns & Sacred Poems, 1739. This cento is sometimes found in Church of England hymnals. Original texts, Poetical Works, 1868-72, vol. i. 76, 87.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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