Wesley Corpus

The race we all are running now, And if I first attain, They too their willing head shall bow, They too the prize shall gain: Now on the brink of death we stand, And if I pass before, They all shall soon escape to land, And hail me on the shore. Then let me suddenly remove, That hidden life to share; I shall not lose my friends above, But more enjoy them there. There we in Jesus' praise shall join, His boundless love proclaim, And solemnize in songs divine The marriage of the Lamb. O what a blessed hope is ours! While here on earth we stay, Page 4 We more than taste the heavenly powers, And antedate that day: We feel THE RESURRECTION near, Our life in Christ conceal'd, And with his glorious presence here Our earthen vessels fill'd. O would he more of heaven bestow, And let the vessel break, And let our ransom'd spirits go To grasp the God we seek: In rapturous awe on him to gaze Who bought THE SIGHT for me, And shout and wonder at his grace Thro' all eternity. Hymn III.4 And let this feeble body fail, And let it droop, or die, My soul shall quit the mournful vale, And soar to worlds on high: Shall join the disembodied saints, And find its long sought rest, (That only bliss for which it pants) In my Redeemer's breast. In hope of that immortal crown, I now the cross sustain, And gladly wander up and down, And smile at toil and pain: I suffer out my threescore years, Till my Deliverer come, And wipe away his servant's tears, And take his exile home. Surely he will not long delay, I hear his Spirit cry, 4A manuscript precursor of this hymn in CW's hand appears in shorthand in MS Spencer, 9-11; a version in longhand revised slightly in MS Richmond, 136-39. The revisions, which carry over into this published form, are noted in the MS Richmond file. Page 5 "Arise, my love, make haste away, Go, get thee up, and die. O'er death, who now has lost his sting, I give the victory, And with me my reward I bring, I bring my heaven for thee."