7,7,7,7

Lovest thou me?
Jn 21:16

'Tis a point I long to know,

Oft it causes anxious thought;

Do I love the LORD, or no?

Am I his, or am I not?

If I love, why am I thus?

Why this dull and lifeless frame?

Hardly, sure, can they be worse,

Who have never heard his name!

Could my heart so hard remain,

Prayer a task and burden prove;

Every trifle give me pain,

If I knew a Savior's love?

When I turn my eyes within,

All is dark, and vain, and wild;

Filled with unbelief and sin,

Can I deem myself a child?

If I pray, or hear, or read,

Sin is mixed with all I do;

You that love the LORD indeed,

Tell me, Is it thus with you?

Yet I mourn my stubborn will,

Find my sin, a grief, and thrall;

Should I grieve for what I feel,

If I did not love at all?

Could I joy his saints to meet,

Choose the ways I once abhorred,

Find, at times, the promise sweet,

If I did not love the LORD?

Lord decide the doubtful case!

Thou who art thy people's sun;

Shine upon thy work of grace,

If it be indeed begun.

Let me love thee more and more,

If I love at all, I pray;

If I have not loved before,

Help me to begin today.