Struggling After Christ

Ah, whither should I go

Author: Charles Wesley
Published in 191 hymnals

Printable scores: PDF, MusicXML
Audio files: MIDI

Representative Text

1 Ah! whither should I go,
Burdened, and sick, and faint?
To whom should I my troubles show
And pour out my complaint?

2 My Savior bids me come;
Ah! why do I delay?
He calls the weary sinner home,
And yet from Him I stay.

3 What is it keeps me back
From which I cannot part,
Which will not let the Savior take
Possession of my heart?

4 Some cursed thing unknown
Must surely lurk within:
Some idol which I will not own,
Some secret bosom sin.

5 I now believe in Thee;
Compassion reigns alone;
According to my faith, to me
O let it, Lord, be done.


Source: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal #368

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 >

Text Information

First Line: Ah, whither should I go
Title: Struggling After Christ
Author: Charles Wesley
Meter: 6.6.8.6
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Notes

Ah, whither should I go. C. Wesley. [Lent.] First published in his Hymns on God’s Ever lasting Love, 1741, No. 14, in 16 stanzas of 8 lines. In 1780 stanzas i.-iv. were given in the Wesleyan Hymn Book as one hymn, and stanzas xiv.-xvi., "Lo in Thy hand," as a second, under the division "For mourners convinced of Sin." Although the latter was omitted from the revised edition, 1875, yet both hymns are found in a considerable number of collections, both in Great Britain and America. Original text in Poetical Works, 1868-72, vol. iii. p. 89.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Tune

DUNBAR (Dunbar 13215)


LEOMINSTER (Martin)

George William Martin (b. London, England, 1825; d. London, 1881) composed LEOMINSTER, named for a town in the county of Hereford and Worcester (formerly Herefordshire), England. The tune was first published in The Journal of Part Music (vol. 2, 1862), in which it was titled THE PILGRIM'S SONG. Mart…

Go to tune page >


BOYLSTON


Timeline

Media

The Cyber Hymnal #338
  • Adobe Acrobat image (PDF)
  • Noteworthy Composer score (NWC)
  • XML score (XML)

Instances

Instances (1 - 2 of 2)
TextPage Scan

African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal #368

TextScoreAudio

The Cyber Hymnal #338

Include 189 pre-1979 instances
Suggestions or corrections? Contact us