Wesley Corpus

First the dead in Christ shall rise, Then we who yet remain Shall be caught up to the skies, And see our Lord again; We shall meet him in the air, All rapt up to heaven shall be, See,16 and love, and praise him there, To all eternity. Who can tell the happiness This glorious hope affords, Joy unutter'd we possess In these reviving words; Happy while on earth we breathe, Mightier bliss ordain'd to know, Trampling upon sin and death17 To the third heaven we go. Another A Funeral Hymn. Blessing, honour, thanks, and praise, Pay we, gracious God, to thee, Thou in thine, abundant grace Givest us the victory: True and faithful to thy word Thou hast glorified thy Son, Jesus Christ our dying Lord He for us the fight hath won. 16"See" changed to "Find" in 2nd edn. (1745) only. 17Line changed to "Trampling down sin, hell and death" in 2nd edn. (1745) and following. Page 129 Lo! The prisoner is releast, Lighten'd of his fleshly load, Where the weary are at rest He is gather'd into God! Lo! The pain of life is past, All his warfare now is o're, Death, and hell behind are cast, Grief and suffering are no more. Yes, the Christian's course is run, Ended is the glorious strife, Fought the fight, the work is done, Death is swallow'd up of life; Born by angels on their wings Far from earth the spirit flies, Finds his God, and sits and sings Triumphing in paradise. Join we then with one accord In the new, the joyful song; Absent from our loving Lord We shall not continue long: We shall quit the house of clay, We a better lot shall share, We shall see the realms of day Meet our happy brother there! Let the world bewail their dead, Fondly of their loss complain; Brother, friend, by Jesus freed, Death to thee, to us is gain; Thou art entred into joy: Let the unbelievers mourn, We in songs our lives employ, Till we all to God return. Page 130 Another A Funeral Hymn. Hark! A voice divides the sky! Happy are the faithful dead, In the Lord who sweetly die, They from all their toils are freed. Them the Spirit hath declar'd Blest, unutterably blest, Jesus is their great reward, Jesus is their endless rest.