Wesley Corpus

Pride, only pride, can cause divorce, Can separate 'twixt our souls and thee: Pride, only pride, is discord's source, The bane of peace and charity: But us it never more shall part, For thou art greater than our heart. Wherefore to thine almighty hand The keeping of our hearts we give, Firm in one mind and spirit stand, To thee, and to each other cleave, Fixt on the Rock which cannot move, And meekly safe in humble love. Hymn II.3 Forth in thy strength, O Lord, we go, Forth in thy steps and loving mind, To pay the gospel-debt we owe, (The word of grace for all mankind) To sow th' incorruptible seed, And find the lost, and wake the dead. The wand'ring sheep of England's fold Demand our first and tenderest care, Who under sin and Satan sold Usurp the Christian character, The Christian character prophane, And take thy church's name in vain. Page 15 4Cf. Jeremiah 7:4. 5Manuscript versions appear in MS Preachers, 6-7; MS Preachers Extraordinary, 12-13; and MS Miscellaneous Hymns, 120-22. Or shameless advocates for hell, Their crimes they Sodom-like confess, Or varnish'd with a specious zeal, An empty form of godliness, The power they impiously blaspheme, And call our hope a madman's dream. Haters of God, yet still they cry, "The temple of the Lord are we!4 The church, the church!" Who dare defy Thy self-existent deity, Proudly oppose thy righteous reign, And crucify their God again. 'Gainst these by thee sent forth to fight, A suffering war we calmly wage, With patience meet their fierce despite, With love repay their furious rage, Revil'd, we bless; defam'd, intreat; And spurn'd, we kiss the spurner's feet. Arm'd with thine all-sufficient grace, Thy meek unconquerable mind, Our foes we cordially embrace, (The filth and refuse of mankind) We gladly all resign our breath, To save one precious soul from death. Hymn III.5 So be it, Lord! If thou ordain, We come to suffer all thy will, The utmost violence to sustain Of those that can the body kill, But having push'd us to the shore, The feeble worms can do no more. Page 16 We come, depending on thy name, For we have counted first the cost: Let ease, and liberty, and fame, And friends, and life itself be lost, We come our faithfulness t' approve, And pay thee back thy dying love.