Wesley Corpus

A witness of thy truth I stand, Arraign'd at man's unrighteous bar, In vain my answer they demand, My silence shall thy truth3 declare, A sheep before the shearers dumb, To answer as my Lord4 I come. Falsely accus'd I hold5 my peace, The Judge Supream doth all things know, I want no rescue, or release, No justice I expect below, Nor mercy, more than Jesus found, The man to yonder pillar bound. 3John Wesley underlined "silence shall thy truth" in his personal copy of the 2nd edn. (1756). 4John Wesley underlined "as my Lord" in his personal copy of the 2nd edn. (1756). 5John Wesley underlined "I hold" in his personal copy of the 2nd edn. (1756). Page 9 O what a piteous sight is there! His tender hands are tied behind,6 His back their cruel scourges tear, Yet no complaint, or sigh we find; Or if he groans in all the smart, 'Tis for the hardness of their heart. My pattern here I plainly see, A voice is in thy streaming blood, It bids me bear the scourge like thee, Like thee commit my cause to God, Like thee th' injurious world oppose, Like thee avenge me of my foes. The Trial of Faith. Hymn V. Still let me on my pattern gaze, How meek and motionless he stands! They spit upon his sacred face, They buffet with unhallow'd hands, They bow the knee, present the reed, And mock whom they have doom'd to bleed. No answer yet? No late reply To clear his suffering innocence? So tamely will the guiltless die, Die for his guilty foes' offence, Die, that his murtherers may live! "Father (he gasps in death) forgive!" Silent for them, for them he pleads, And spends in prayer his latest breath, To purge a sinful world he bleeds, To bless them dies a cursed death, Expires into the arms divine Jesu, was ever love like thine! 6John Wesley underlined "are tied behind" in his personal copy of the 2nd edn. (1756), and wrote in the margin "NO." Page 10 O might it now my heart constrain, My every rising thought controul, Sweeten the cup of grief, and pain, And melt, and meeken all my soul, Conform me to the crucified, My God, who for his murtherers died.