I want the spirit of power within

I want the Spirit of power within. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788). First published in Hymns and Sacred Poems (1740). It formed stanzas 2 to 6 of a hymn entitled ‘Groaning for the Spirit of Adoption’, which began with a stanza based on Romans 8: 15: ‘... ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father’: Father, if Thou my Father art,   Send forth the Spirit of Thy Son, Breathe Him into my panting Heart,   And make me know, as I am known: Make me Thy conscious Child, that I May Father, Abba, Father cry. This seems such a beautiful stanza, and one that is the key to the whole hymn, that it is strange and unfortunate that John Wesley* omitted it when compiling A Collection...

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