'Tis a point I long to know, <br />Oft it causes anxious thought; <br />Do I love the Lord, or no? <br />Am I his, or am I not? <br /> <br />If I love, why am I thus? <br />Why this dull and lifeless frame? <br />Hardly, sure, can they be worse, <br />Who have never heard his name! <br /> <br />Could my heart so hard remain, <br />Prayer a task and burden prove; <br />Every trifle give me pain, <br />If I knew a Saviour's love? <br /> <br />When I turn my eyes within, <br />All is dark, and vain, and wild; <br />Filled with unbelief and sin, <br />Can I deem myself a child? <br /> <br />If I pray, or hear, or read, <br />Sin is mixed with all I do; <br />You that love the Lord indeed, <br />Tell me, Is it thus with you? <br /> <br />Yet I mourn my stubborn will, <br />Find my sin, a grief, and thrall; <br />Should I grieve for what I feel, <br />If I did not love at all? <br /> <br />Could I joy his saints to meet, <br />Choose the ways I once abhorred, <br />Find, at times, the promise sweet, <br />If I did not love the Lord? <br /> <br />Lord decide the doubtful case! <br />Thou who art thy people's sun; <br />Shine upon thy work of grace, <br />If it be indeed begun. <br /> <br />Let me love thee more and more, <br />If I love at all, I pray; <br />If I have not loved before, <br />Help me to begin today.<br /><br />John Newton<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/lovest-thou-me-2/
