Wesley Corpus

We know in whom we have believ'd, Our faith in Jesus is not vain; To all who have their Lord receiv'd To live is Christ, to die is gain. Our sister's flesh shall turn to dust, Her sacred dust in hope shall sleep, The temple of the Holy Ghost The still-indwelling God shall keep. Triumphantly she laid it down For time to waste, and worms devour: In weakness and dishonour sown, Till rais'd in glory and in power. A body natural it lies, A lifeless lump of mouldring clay, But spiritual it soon shall rise,14 No more to perish or decay. This corruptible body soon Shall all incorruptible be, This mortal quickly shall put on Its robes of immortality. The terrible, all-conquering King Shall then a final period have: Say then, O death, where is thy sting, Where is thy victory, O grave? 14Ori., "raise"; corrected in errata. Page 127 The sting of death, our sin is gone, Scatter'd are all our guilty fears; Thanks be to God, thro' Christ alone, Who makes us more than conquerors. God only doth the victory give, He shall our glorious flesh restore, His many sons to heaven receive, Where time and death shall be no more. Another A Funeral Hymn. 1 Thessalonians iv. 13, c. Let the world lament their dead, As sorrowing without hope, When a friend of ours is freed, We chearfully look up, Cannot murmur or complain, For our dead we cannot grieve, Death to them, to us is gain; In Jesus we believe. We believe, that Christ our head For us resign'd his breath, He was numbred with the dead, And dying conquer'd death; Burst the barriers of the tomb: Death could him no longer keep, He is the first-fruits become Of those in him that sleep. God, who him to life restor'd, Shall all his members raise, Bring them quicken'd with their Lord, The children of his grace. We who then on earth remain, Shall not sooner be brought home, All the dead shall rise again To meet the15 general doom. 15Charles Wesley changed "the" to "their" in All in All (1761). Page 128 Jesus, faithful to his word, Shall with a shout descend, All heaven's host their glorious Lord Shall pompously attend: Christ shall come with dreadful noise, Lightnings swift, and thunders loud, With the great archangel's voice, And with the trump of God.