Wesley Corpus

Fountain of life, and all my joy, Jesu, thy mercies I embrace, The breath thou giv'st, for thee employ And wait to taste thy perfect grace, No more forsaken, and forlorn, I bless the day that I was born. Since first I felt by grace remov'd My sin's intollerable load, Long in the wilderness I rov'd, And groan'd to live without my God; I cannot now, as hopeless, mourn, But bless the day that I was born. Page 123 The tyranny of sin is past, And tho' the carnal mind remains, My guiltless soul on thee is cast, I neither hug, nor bite my chains, Prisoner of hope to thee I turn, And bless the day that I was born. Preserv'd thro' faith by power divine, A miracle of grace I stand, I prove the strength of Jesus mine: Jesus, upheld by thy right-hand, Tho' in my flesh I feel the thorn, I bless the day that I was born. Weary of life thro' inbred sin I was, but now defy its power, When as a flood the foe comes in, My soul is more than conqueror, I tread him down with holy scorn, And bless the day that I was born. Born from above, I soon shall praise Thy goodness with a thankful tongue, Record the victory of thy grace, And teach a listening world the song, While many, whom to thee I turn, Shall bless the day that I was born. Come, Lord, and make me pure within, O let me now be born of God, Live to declare I CANNOT SIN! Or, if I seal the truth with blood, My soul from out the body torn, Shall bless the day that I was born. Page 124 Job xix. 25. I know that my Redeemer lives, He lives, and on the earth shall stand, And tho' to worms my flesh he gives, My dust lies number'd in his hand. In this reanimated clay I surely shall behold him near, Shall see him at the latter day In all his majesty appear. I feel what then shall raise me up, Th' eternal Spirit lives in me, This is my confidence of hope That God I face to face shall see.