Wesley Corpus

Accused his mouth he open'd not, He answer'd not by wrongs opprest; Pure tho' he was from sinful spot Our13 guilt he silently confest! Meek as a lamb to slaughter led, A sheep before his shearers dumb To suffer in the sinner's stead Behold the spotless victim come! Who could his heavenly birth declare When bound by man he silent stood, When worms arraign'd him at their bar, And doom'd to death th' eternal God! 13Ori., "What"; corrected in 2nd edn. (1739) and following. Page 89 Patient the sufferings to sustain The vengeance to transgressors due, Guiltless he groan'd and died for man: Sinners rejoice, he died for you! For your imputed guilt he bled, Made sin a sinful world to save; Meekly he sunk among the dead: The rich supplied an honour'd grave? For O! Devoid of sin, and free From actual or intail'd offence, No sinner in himself was he, But pure and perfect innocence. Yet him th' Almighty Father's will With bruising chastisements pursu'd, Doom'd him the weight of sin to feel, And sternly just requir'd his blood. But lo! The mortal debt is paid, The costly sacrifice is o'er, His soul for sin an offering made Revives, and he shall die no more. His numerous seed he now shall see, Scatter'd thro' all the earth abroad, Blest with his immortality, Begot by him, and born of God. Head to his church o'er all below Long shall he here his sons sustain; Their bounding hearts his power shall know, And bless the lov'd Messiah's reign. 'Twixt God and them he still shall stand The children whom his Sire hath given, Page 90 Their cause shall prosper in his hand While RIGHTEOUSNESS looks down from heaven. While pleas'd he counts the ransom'd race, And calls and draws them from above; The travail of his soul surveys, And rests in his redeeming love. 'Tis done! My justice asks no more, The satisfaction's fully made: Their sins he in his body bore; Their surety all the debt has paid. My righteous servant and my son Shall each believing sinner clear, And all, who stoop t' abjure their own, Shall in his righteousness appear.