Wesley Corpus

Wisdom ascribe, and might, and praise To God, who lengthens out our days, Who spares us yet another year, And lets us see his goodness here; Happy, and wise, the time redeem, And live, my friends, and die to him. Page 4 How often, when his arm was bar'd, Hath he our sinful Israel spar'd! Let them alone his mercy cried, And turn'd the vengeful bolt aside, Indulg'd another kind reprieve, And strangely suffer'd us to live. Laid to the root with conscious awe, But now the threatning axe we saw, We saw, when Jesus step'd between, To part the punishment and sin, He pleaded for the blood-bought race, And God vouchsaf'd a longer space! Still in the doubtful balance weigh'd We trembled, while the remnant pray'd: The Father heard his Spirit groan, And answer'd mild It is my Son! He let the prayer of faith prevail, And mercy turn'd the hovering scale. Merciful God, how shall we raise Our hearts to pay thee all thy praise? Our hearts shall beat for thee alone, Our lives shall make thy goodness known, Our souls and bodies shall be thine, A living sacrifice divine. I and my house will serve the Lord, Led by the Spirit, and the word; We plight our faith, assembled here, To serve our God th' ensuing year, And vow, when time shall be no more, Thro' all eternity t' adore. Page 5 Ye worms of earth arise, Ye creatures of a day, Redeem the time, be bold, be wise, And cast your bonds away, Shake off the chains of sin, Like us, assembled here, With hymns of praise to usher in The acceptable year. The year of gospel-grace Like us rejoice to see, And thankfully in Christ embrace Your proffer'd liberty. Pardon and peace are nigh, Which every soul may prove; The Lord, who now is passing by, Makes this the time of love. Saviour, and Lord of all, Thy proffer we receive, Obedient to the2 gospel call That bids us turn, and live: Our former years miss-spent, Though late, we deeply mourn, And softned by thy grace repent, And to thy arms return: With fear, and grief, and shame Our folly we bemoan, But wonder at the patient Lamb, Who lets us still alone: 2"The" changed to "thy" in 1752 edn. and following.