Wesley Corpus

God of all power, and truth, and grace, Thou hast increas'd the holy seed, Thou hast increas'd the chosen race, The souls from sin for ever freed. Thou in thy saints art glorified, Thou hast in them thine image shewn; Shepherdless souls they wandred wide, 'Till call'd and perfected in one. 5Ori., "receive"; corrected in errata and 2nd edn. (1755). 6John Wesley substituted "spotless" for "sinless" in manuscript in his personal copy of the 2nd edn. (1755). Page 9 All we like sheep have gone astray, To earth's remotest bounds remov'd, 'Till Jesus shew'd himself the way, And kindly chasten'd whom he lov'd. To thee we in our trouble turn'd, Constrain'd thy chastisements to bear, We then our sin and folly mourn'd, And pour'd out all our soul in prayer. As women, when their time draws nigh, Cry out in sore distress, and pain, So have we travail'd, in thine eye, And struggled to be born again. In anguish, agony, and grief, For years our lab'ring souls have been, Nor could we bring ourselves relief, Nor could we save ourselves from sin.7 Our toil, and strife avail'd us not, Abortive prov'd our hope, and vain, For we have no deliverance wrought, For yet we were not born again. The world did not before us fall, We wanted still the victory, The mighty faith that conquers all, And makes the soul for ever free. But they who sunk in self-despair, Death's sentence in themselves receive, The quickning voice divine shall hear, And dead with Christ, with Christ shall live. The Spi'rit that rais'd him from the dead, My mortal body shall inspire, Shall raise us all with Christ our head, And hallow and baptize with fire. 7Ori., "sins"; corrected in errata and 2nd edn. (1755). Page 10 Awake and sing, ye souls that dwell Indignant in the shade of death, Our Lord, who burst the gates of hell, Shall bear you from the gulph beneath. As herbs reviv'd by vernal dew Spring from the earth, and flourish fair, Ye all shall rise with verdure new, And fruit unto perfection bear. The hour shall come, the gospel-hour, When all that wait, his power shall prove, His resurrection's glorious power, And live the life of faith and love.