Wesley Corpus

O all-loving Lamb, A sinner I am, And come as a sinner thy mercy to claim. With joy I embrace The pardon and grace Thy passion hath purchas'd for all the lost race. For sinners like me Thy mercy is free: O who would not love such a Saviour as thee? Yet long I withstood, And fled from my God, But mercy pursu'd with the cry of thy blood; It challeng'd its stray, And forc'd me to stay, And wash'd all my sins in a moment away. I felt it applied, And joyfully cried, Me, me thou hast lov'd, and for me thou hast died! How mighty thou art, O love to convert! Love only could conquer so stubborn an heart. The love of God-man Alone could constrain So sturdy a rebel to love thee again. But surely at last78 Thy goodness I taste; My soul on thy goodness delighted I cast. 77Manuscript precursors of this hymn appear in MS Cheshunt, 115-16; MS Clarke, 132-33; and MS Shent, 120b-121a. Sarah Gwynne Wesley included it in MS Gwynne, 21-22. 78Changed to read "But sure at the last" in 6th edn. (1761) and following. Page 63 Thy goodness I praise, I sing of thy grace, And joyfully live out my few happy days. And when thy dear love From earth shall remove, O then I shall sing like the angels above. Yet there when I am, My work is the same, To ascribe my salvation to God, and the Lamb. Salvation to God Will I publish abroad, And make heaven ring with the cry of thy blood. The Lamb that was slain, Lo! He liveth again, And I with my Jesus eternally reign. Hymn L. The Great Supper, Luke xiv. 16-24.79 To: "Awake, Jerusalem, awake." Come, sinners, to the gospel-feast, Let every soul be Jesu's guest, You need not one be left behind, For God hath bidden all mankind. Sent by my Lord, on you I call, The invitation is to all. Come all the world: come, sinner, thou, All things in Christ are ready now. Jesus to you his fulness brings, A feast of marrow, and fat things: All, all in Christ is freely given, Pardon, and holiness, and heaven. 79Manuscript precursors of this hymn appear in MS Cheshunt, 40-43; and MS Clarke, 43-47. Page 64