Wesley Corpus

Where is the passionate regret, The fond complaint, and lingring smart? Can I my sucking child forget, So freely with my Isaac part, So chearfully my all resign, And triumph in the will divine! Son of my womb, my joy, my hope, He liv'd, my yearning heart's desire, Yet lo! I gladly yield him up, No longer mine, if God require, And with a sudden stroke remove, Whom only less than God I love. Nature would cry, my son, my son! O that I now had died for thee! But faith replies, his will be done, Who lent the blessing first to me; Lent, and resumes, it is the Lord! His will be done, his name ador'd! With all my soul, O Lord, I give The child thy love hath snatch'd away; On earth I would not have him live, With me I would not have him stay; The sacrifice long since was o'er, I stand to what I gave before. I all have left for Jesu's sake, And shall I grieve to part with one! No, if a wish could call him back, I would not have my darling son Brought from his everlasting rest, Snatch'd from his heavenly Father's breast. Page 278 Pass a few fleeting days, or years, And I shall see my child again; When Jesus in the clouds appears, With him I shall in glory reign, I and the children he hath given, Inseparably join'd in heaven. Oblation of a Sick Child.61 Father, thy will be done, not mine, Thy only will be done! To thee my Isaac I resign, I render up my son. Without a murmuring wish I give The child thou gav'st to me; Or let him to thy glory live, Or let him die to thee. I dare not deprecate the cross, Or of my loss complain, Assur'd my momentary loss Is his eternal gain. I hear the providential word, I bless the will divine; Remove him from my bosom, Lord, And take him up to thine. A Mother's Thanksgiving for the Death of Her Child. All praise to God on high, Who sets his heart on man, 61A manuscript precursor of this hymn appears in MS Shent, 153a. Page 279 And beckons from the sky, And bids him turn again, Gathers unto himself his breath, And blesses by an early death.