Wesley Corpus

Page 126 Serve a Father reconcil'd, Serve as thy beloved child. "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Joshua xxiv. 15. Trusting in the strength divine I vow to serve the Lord, Christ shall be by me and mine Acknowledg'd and ador'd: Jesus, to my house and me Now let thy salvation come, Now prepare our hearts to be Thine everlasting home. Hymn 392. "Therefore the Lord left those nations." Judg. ii. 23. Refusing with our sin to part, If still we hug it in our heart, Tho' infinite29 in grace God will not utterly expel, But leave it in our flesh to dwell, And plague us all our days. "I have a message from God unto thee." Judg. iii. 20. Jesus, thine efficacious word (If thou with the deliverer art) Comes, as a message from the Lord, A dagger to the faithless heart: But when it hath the sinner slain, It brings the dead to life again. 28MS Judges, which contains a manuscript predecessor to these hymns (in a scribe's hand), is present in MARC: MA 1977/560. The significant variants are noted here. 29MS Judges reads "omnipotent," instead of "Tho' infinite." Page 127 "They fought from heaven." Judg. v. 20. The malice of thy church's foes In every age we see, For who thy people dare oppose Are fighting found with thee: Before thy face, as chaff they fail, Before the whirlwind driven: For how should worms of earth prevail Against the Lord from heaven? "The stars in their courses fought against Sisera." Judg. v. 20. Who musters the celestial host, He sets them in array, To blast the persecutor's boast, And give his church the day: The stars upon our foes in fight Their baleful influence shed, The lightnings wither all their might, And strike opposers dead. "O my soul, thou hast trodden down strength." Judg. v. 21. I have oft victorious been Thro' the invincible, Trampled down the strength of sin, The powers of earth and hell: Still on all my foes I tread, 'Till he, who hath my sins subdued, Root out every evil seed, And fill my soul with God. "Let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might." Judg. v. 31.