Wesley Corpus

Thou shepherd of Israel, and mine, The joy and desire of my heart, For closer communion I pine, I long to reside where thou art; The pasture I languish to find Where all who their shepherd obey, Are fed, on thy bosom reclin'd, Are skreen'd from the heat of the day. Ah, shew me that happiest place, That place of thy people's abode, Where saints in an extasy gaze, And hang on a crucified God: Thy love for a sinner declare, Thy passion and death on the tree, My spirit to Calvary bear, To suffer, and triumph, with thee. 'Tis there with the lambs of thy flock, There only I covet to rest, To lie at the foot of the Rock, Or rise to be hid in thy breast; Page 295 'Tis there I would always abide, And never a moment depart, Conceal'd in the clift of thy side, Eternally held in thy heart. "His fruit was sweet to my taste." Song of Sol. ii. 3. Happy beneath the vine I sit, And will not from his shade remove, His fruit unto my taste is sweet, Th' experience of his dying love; But sweeter far, when what I taste Becomes in heaven my endless feast. "He brought me to the banqueting-house; and his banner over me was love." Song of Sol. ii. 4. Me, his own, so dearly bought The King into his house hath brought: Here he banquets with his bride Happy at my Bridegroom's side; Here he boasts his victory, Triumphs in his love for me; And heaven begun on earth I prove Under the banner of his love! "The voice of my beloved!" Song of Sol. ii. 8. The voice of my beloved sounds, While o'er the mountain-tops he bounds, He flies exulting o'er the hills, And all my soul with transport fills! Gently doth he chide my stay "Rise, my love, and come away." "Lo, the winter is past, the rain is gone, c." Song of Sol. ii. 11. The scatter'd clouds are fled at last, The rain is gone, the winter past, The lovely vernal flowers appear, The warbling quire enchant our ear: Now with sweetly pensive moan, Cooes the turtle-dove alone. 85A manuscript version combining this and the following hymn appears in longhand in MS Richmond, 152; and in shorthand in MS Spencer, 14-15 (with no variants).