"More hard than Marble is my Heart, / And foul with Sins of deepest Stain: / But Thou the mighty Saviour art, / Nor flow'd thy cleansing Blood in vain. / Ah! soften, melt this Rock, and may / Thy Blood wash all these Stains away."

— Wesley, John and Charles


Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed by William Strahan
Date
1739
Metaphor
"More hard than Marble is my Heart, / And foul with Sins of deepest Stain: / But Thou the mighty Saviour art, / Nor flow'd thy cleansing Blood in vain. / Ah! soften, melt this Rock, and may / Thy Blood wash all these Stains away."
Metaphor in Context
VI.
More hard than Marble is my Heart,
And foul with Sins of deepest Stain:
But Thou the mighty Saviour art,
Nor flow'd thy cleansing Blood in vain.
Ah! soften, melt this Rock, and may
Thy Blood wash all these Stains away.
(p. 157)
Provenance
Reading in ECCO-TCP
Citation
At least 8 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1739, 1740, 1742, 1743, 1749). See also the many other collections of hymns which select from or incorporate hymns from the original.

3 editions in 1739. See John and Charles Wesley, Hymns and Sacred Poems. Published by John Wesley, M. A. Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford; and Charles Wesley, M. A. Student of Christ-Church, Oxford. (London: Printed by William Strahan, 1739). <Link to first edition in ESTC><Link to ECCO><Link to ECCO-TCP>

Found searching in The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, ed. G. Osborn, 13 vols. (London: The Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1868). <Link to Hathi Trust>
Date of Entry
02/09/2014

The Mind is a Metaphor is authored by Brad Pasanek, Assistant Professor of English, University of Virginia.