Wesley Corpus

Universal Redemption Source: Hymns and Sacred Poems (1740), Part I Author: Charles Wesley (attributed) --- O that the Comforter would come, Nor visit, as a transient guest, But fix in me his constant home, And take56 possession of my breast, And make my soul his lov’d abode, The temple of indwelling God. Come, Holy Ghost, my heart inspire, Attest that I am born again! Come, and baptize me now with fire, Or all thy former gifts are vain. I cannot rest in sin forgiven;57 Where is the earnest of my heaven! Where thy indubitable seal That58 ascertains the kingdom mine, The powerful stamp I long to feel, The signature of love divine: O shed it in my heart abroad, Fulness of love,--of heaven--of God! Universal Redemption.59 Saviour of all, by God design’d Our loss of Eden to retrieve, Mighty restorer of mankind, In whom we all, tho’ dead, may live: 56“Keep” instead of “take” in the manuscript draft. 57The manuscript draft began “Imprint the sense ...”, but “imprint” is struck through and replaced by “Where is.” 58The manuscript draft reads “Which ascertains ....” 59This hymn was omitted from 4th edn. (1743) and following, because it had been transferred to HGEL (1741), 32. In rapture lost, on thee I gaze, Thy universal goodness prove, Adore the riches of thy grace, And triumph in thy boundless love. Rest to my soul I now have found, My interest in thy blood I see; On this my confidence I ground, Who died for all, hath died for me! For me, for me the Saviour died! Surely thy grace for all is free: I feel it now by faith applied: Who died for all, hath died for me! No dire decree obtain’d thy seal, Or fix’d th’ unalterable doom, Consign’d my unborn soul to hell, Or damn’d me from my mother’s womb. Who that beholds thy lovely face, Can doubt, if all thy grace may share: So strong the lines of general grace-- Grace, grace is all that’s written there. Loving to every man thou art! Sinners, ye all his grace may prove; He bears you all upon his heart: God is not HATE, but God is LOVE!