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Ode to the Titles of Christ

Charles Wesley
(1707-1788)

Arise, my soul, arise
Thy Savior’s sacrifice!
All the names that love could find,
All the forms that love could take
Jesus in Himself has joined,
Thee, my soul, His own to make.

Equal with God, most high,
He laid His glory by:
He, th’ eternal God was born,
Man with men He deigned t’ appear;
Object of His creature’s scorn,
Pleased a servant’s form to wear.

Hail everlasting Lord,
Divine, incarnate Word!
Thee let all my powers confess,
Thee my latest breath proclaim;
Help, ye angel choirs, to bless,
Shout the loved Immanuel’s name.

Fruit of a virgin’s womb
The promised blessing’s come:
Christ the fathers’ hope of old,
Christ the woman’s conquering seed,
Christ the Savior! Long foretold,
Born to bruise the serpent’s head.

Refulgent from afar,
See the bright Morning-Star!
See the Day-Spring from on high
Late in deepest darkness rise;
Night recedes, the shadows fly,
Flame with day the opening skies!

Our eyes on earth survey
The dazzling Shechinah!
Bright, in endless glory bright,
Now in flesh He stoops to dwell;
God of God, and light of light,
Image of th’ invisible.

He shines on earth adored,
The presence of the Lord;
God, the mighty God and true,
God by highest Heav’n confessed,
Stands displayed to mortal view:
God supreme, forever blessed.

Jesu! To Thee I bow,
Th’ Almighty’s fellow Thou!
Thou, the Father’s only Son,
Pleased He ever is in Thee;
Just and holy Thou alone,
Full of grace and truth for me.

High above every name,
Jesus, the great I AM!
Bows to Jesus every knee,
Things in heav’n, and earth and hell;
Saints adore Him, demons flee,
Fiends and men and angels feel.

He left His throne above,
Emptied of all but love;
Whom the heav’ns cannot contain
God vouchsafed a worm t’ appear;
Lord of glory, Son of man,
Poor, and vile, and abject here.

His own on earth He sought,
His own received Him not;
Him, a sign by all blasphemed,
Outcast and despised of men,
Him they all a madman deemed,
Bold to scoff the Nazarene.

Hail, Galilean King!
Thy humble state I sing;
Never shall Thy triumphs end.
Hail derided majesty;
Jesus, hail! The sinner’s friend,
Friend of publicans — and me!

Thine eye observed my pain,
Thou good Samaritan!
Spoiled I lay and bruised by sin,
Gasped my faint, expiring soul;
Wine and oil Thy love poured in,
Closed my wounds, and made me whole.

Hail the life-giving Lord,
Divine, engrafted Word!
Thee the life my soul has found,
Thee the resurrection proved;
Dead I heard the quickening sound,
Owned Thy voice, believed, and loved!

With Thee gone up on high
I live, no more to die;
First and Last, I feel Thee now,
Witness of Thy empty tomb,
Alpha and Omega Thou
Wast, and art, and art to come!

 

Lyre and Wreath, used under license from www.123rf.com (santi0103/123RF Stock Photo)

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Image credit: Copyright: santi0103/123RF Stock Photo
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