Wesley Corpus

Who pardon preach thro' faith alone, Do we not piety reject, The need of virtuous deeds disown, And make the law of none effect? The law we stablish and defend, Its full authority we prove, And point poor souls to Christ its end, And shew it all fulfill'd in love. We the one sure foundation lay, Of righteous works and tempers pure, "Receive with faith a power t' obey, And labouring to the end endure: Thou mayst thro' that all-cleansing blood Consummate holiness attain, And answering the whole will of God, Commence at last a perfect man." "Our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed." Rom. vi. 6. The old congenial man of sin, Coeval with the fall we know, Th' entire depravity within, Whence all our endless evils flow; Corrupt alas, thro' every part, No good, no help in us we have, But fly to him with broken heart, Who died himself our souls to save. Page 280 Nail'd to the cross where Jesus bled, United with his sacrifice, (Not instantaneously struck dead) A lingring death our nature dies: The death my Saviour bore for me, Exerts its mortifying power, 'Till nature gasping on the tree Is quite extinct, and stirs no more. Whether by slow or swift degrees, The selfish and the proud desire, The Adam old shall surely cease, And the last breath of sin expire, My actions, words, and thoughts impure, Sin's members, all destroy'd shall be, And then of full salvation sure, I dwell in Christ, and Christ in me. "O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. vii. 24, 25. Most wretched of all the lost race, My burthen unable to bear, I yield to my utter disgrace, I plunge in the gulph of despair: Ah, who from this intimate hell, This body of sin, shall set free, My fulness of evil expel, And save such a sinner as me! The grace of a pacified God, (Who gave us his Son from above) The virtue of Jesus's blood, Applied by the Spirit of love! My Saviour, I know, shall release, My soul to the uttermost save, And fill me with heavenly peace, And ransom at last from the grave.