Wesley Corpus

O may I cast my rags aside, My filthy rags of virtuous pride, And for acceptance groan; My works and30 righteousness disclaim, With all I have, or can, or am, And trust in grace alone. Whate'er obstructs thy pard'ning love, Or sin, or righteousness remove, Thy glory to display, Mine heart of unbelief convince, And now absolve me from my sins, And take them all away. Father, in me reveal thy Son, And to my inmost soul make known How merciful thou art, The secret of thy love reveal, And by thine hallowing Spirit dwell Forever in my heart. Hymn XX. Written After a Deliverance in a Tumult.31 To: "Head of thy church triumphant." Worship, and thanks, and blessing And strength ascribe to Jesus! Jesus alone Defends his own, When earth and hell oppress us. 30"And" changed to "of" in 6th edn. (1761) and following. 31A manuscript version is present in a journal letter covering February 23-25, 1747, the first known evidence for this hymn. The contents of the journal letter are included in MS Journal (February 25, 1747). It is unclear if the hymn was written at this time, or written earlier. Page 28 Jesus with joy we witness Almighty to deliver, Our seal set to That God is true, And reigns a King for ever. Omnipotent Redeemer, Our ransom'd souls adore thee, Our Saviour thou, We find it now, And give thee all the glory. We sing thine arm unshort'ned, Brought thro' our sore temptation, With heart and voice, In thee rejoice, The God of our salvation. Thine arm hath safely brought us A way no more expected, Than when thy sheep Pass'd thro' the deep, By chrystal walls protected. Thy glory was our reerward,32 Thine hand our lives did cover, And we, e'en we Have walk'd the sea, And march'd triumphant over. Thy work33 we now acknowledge, Thy wondrous loving-kindness, Which help'd thine own By means unknown, And smote our foes with blindness. By Satan's host surrounded Thou didst with patience arm us, But wouldst not give The Syrians leave, Or Sodom's sons to harm us. 32"Reerward" changed to "rearward" in 5th edn. (1756); then to "rereward" in 6th edn. (1761) and following. "Rearward" (in sense of back guard) seems most probable. 33"Work" changed to "works" in 5th edn. (1756) and following. Page 29