Wesley Corpus

Last updated: April 10, 2009. 2See Nativity Hymns (1745), Resurrection Hymns (1746), Ascension Hymns (1746), and Whitsunday Hymns (1746). Another that might fit in this series was Gloria Patri (1746). Graces (1746)1 Baker list, 134 Editorial Introduction: After providing a series of hymn pamphlets designed to resource worship during the major Christian festivals,2 Charles showed equal concern for daily practices of worship by issuing a set of graces to be sung before and after meals. He was returning to a form that was present in his earliest published verse see HSP (1739): 34-37. We can be confident the hymns in this new collection come from the pen of Charles Wesley because twelve of them survive in a bound manuscript volume, in his hand (MS Family). The first printings of this collection appeared with neither publisher nor date indicated. The collection was first advertised in the second volume of John's Sermons on Several Occasions, which was published in January 1748, so it was in print by that point. Setting the other parameter, the pamphlet includes for each hymn a suggested tune setting from Festival Hymns, which was issued in October 1746, so it must have been printed after that. The few other indications available suggest that it was published in December 1746 or early 1747. Editions: Charles Wesley. Graces Before and After Meat. np, 1746. np, 1747?. Dublin: Powell, 1747. combined with Gloria Patri (1746) Bristol: William Pine, 1761?. London: Hawes, 1773?. (625 copies remained in inventory in 1791) Table of Contents Before Meat. For Mourners. At or After Meat. Page 1 Before Meat. To: "Father, our hearts we lift." Father of earth and heaven, Thy hungry children feed, Thy grace be to our spirits given, That true immortal bread: Grant us, and all our race In Jesus Christ to prove The sweetness of thy pard'ning grace, The manna of thy love. To: "With pity, Lord, a sinner see," (Hymn 7). Jesus, to whom alone we live, Let us from thyself receive Our consecrated food, In nature's acts thy will pursue, And do with faith whate'er we do To glorify our God. O let us of the gift partake Only for the giver's sake, And not ourselves to please, In all our conversation here Be thou our joy, our hope, our fear, Our total happiness.