Wesley Corpus

But O thou patient mournful man, Thy life our better way we see, And labouring hard thro' grief and pain, Thro' toils and deaths we follow thee, Fight on, while day by day renew'd, And strive, resisting unto blood. We work, till thou pronounce, "Well done!" Th' incessant toils of love repeat, And suffer 'till our final groan,71 'Till patience hath its work compleat, And faith its glorious end receives, And love alone forever lives. "This is the will of God, even your sanctification." 1 Thess. iv. 3. He wills, that I should holy be: That holiness I long to feel, That full divine conformity To all my Saviour's righteous will: See, Lord, the travail of thy soul Accomplish'd in the change of mine, And plunge me, every whit made whole, In all the depths of love divine. "Sorrow not, even as others which have no hope." 1 Thess. iv. 13. If death my friend and me divide, Thou dost not, Lord, my sorrow chide, Or frown my tears to see; Restrain'd from passionate excess Thou bidst me mourn in calm distress For them that rest in thee. I feel a strong immortal hope, Which bears my mournful spirit up Beneath its mountain-load: Redeem'd from death, and grief, and pain, I soon shall find my friend again Within the arms of God. 71John Wesley underlined this entire line in his personal copy. He then wrote in the margin "φεØ" (a Greek exclamation of disappointment, like "Alas!"). Page 325