Charles Wesley
(1707-1788)
Father of Jesus Christ, my Lord,
My Savior, and my Head,
I trust in Thee, Whose powerful word
Hath raised Him from the dead.
Thou know’st for my offence He died,
And rose again for me,
Fully and freely justified,
That I might live to Thee.
Eternal life to all mankind
Thou hast in Jesus given;
And all who seek, in Him shall find
The happiness of heaven.
O God! Thy record I believe,
In Abraham’s footsteps tread;
And wait, expecting to receive,
The Christ, the Promised Seed.
Faith in Thy power Thou seest I have,
For Thou this faith hast wrought;
Dead souls thou callest from their grave,
And speakest worlds from nought.
Things that are not, as though they were,
Thou callest by their name;
Present and future with Thee are,
With Thee, the great I AM.
In hope, against all human hope,
Self-desperate, I believe;
Thy quickening word shall raise me up,
Thou shalt Thy Spirit give.
The thing surpasses all my thought,
But faithful is my Lord;
Through unbelief I stagger not,
For God hath spoke the word.
Faith, mighty faith, the promise sees,
And looks to that alone;1
Laughs at impossibilities,
And cries, “It shall be done!”2
To Thee the glory of Thy power
And faithfulness I give;
I shall in Christ, in that glad hour,
And Christ in me shall live.
Obedient faith, that waits on Thee,
Thou never wilt reprove;
But thou wilt form Thy Son in me,
And perfect me in love.
- The first two lines from this ninth stanza are quoted by Thomas Cook in Sanctifying Faith. ↩
- These two stanzas (starting with “the thing surpasses all my thought”) are quoted in Percy Gutteridge's chapter entitled The Nature of Faith. ↩