Charles Wesley
(1707-1788)
For I determined not to know any thing among you,
save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. — 1 Corinthians 2:2 kjv
The babes in Christ should nothing know
But Jesus crucified:
Let us, till dead to all below,
In those dear wounds abide.
Then let us follow on, to prove
His resurrection’s power,
Wait to be perfected in love,
To rise, and fall no more!
Jesu, our Life, in us appear,
Who daily die Thy death,
Reveal Thyself the Finisher,
Thy quickening Spirit breathe.
Unfold the hidden mystery,
The second gift impart,
Reveal Thy glorious self in me,
In every waiting heart.1
We shall attain what we pursue,
Unless our faith is vain;
If Thou art good, if Thou art true,
We shall the prize attain;
Partake on earth the heavenly bliss,
And pure and holy be,
And perfect as Thy Father is,
And one with God in Thee.
- John Wesley combines the 3rd and 4th stanzas into one when he quotes them in A Plain Account of Christian Perfection: Part 2. ↩
