Full text
Free Grace
The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, ed. G. Osborn, vol. 1 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1868), reprinting Hymns and Sacred Poems (1739) and (1740), via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library
Source
Source: The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, ed. G. Osborn, vol. 1 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1868), reprinting Hymns and Sacred Poems (1739) and (1740), via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library Source URL: https://ccel.org/ccel/wesley/works Public domain basis: Charles Wesley died in 1788; the hymns were first published in 1739 and 1740 and the Osborn reprint in 1868. Five hymns selected from the CCEL transcription; CCEL navigation and page apparatus removed. Coverage: Complete individual poem extracted from parent edition charles-wesley-hymns at bytes 3359-4680; checksum a7ee7cd8ae9706ed9a5908a8a045dc7b6bb6cdaee291d64dd96087219b161b6d.
# Free Grace
Free Grace
FREE GRACE [Hymns and Sacred Poems (1739)]
And can it be, that I should gain An interest in the Saviour’s blood? Died He for me?—who caused His pain! For me?—who Him to death pursued. Amazing love! how can it be That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
’Tis mystery all! the Immortal dies! Who can explore His strange design? In vain the first-born seraph tries To sound the depths of Love Divine. ’Tis mercy all! Let earth adore; Let angel minds inquire no more.
He left His Father’s throne above, (So free, so infinite His grace!) Emptied Himself of all but love, And bled for Adam’s helpless race: ’Tis mercy all, immense and free! For, O my God! it found out me!
Long my imprison’d spirit lay, Fast bound in sin and nature’s night: Thine eye diffused a quickening ray; I woke; the dungeon flamed with light; My chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose, went forth, and follow’d Thee.
Still the small inward voice I hear, That whispers all my sins forgiven; Still the atoning blood is near, That quench’d the wrath of hostile Heaven: I feel the life His wounds impart; I feel my Saviour in my heart.
No condemnation now I dread, Jesus, and all in Him, is mine: Alive in Him, my Living Head, And clothed in righteousness Divine, Bold I approach the eternal throne, And claim the crown, through Christ, my own.