Be it according  Thy word





Charles Wesley

Charles Wesley 
(1708 - 1788)


Stracathro

C.M.

1

Be it according to Thy word!
This moment let it be,
O that I now, my dearest Lord,
Might lose my life for Thee!

2

 Now, Jesu, let Thy powerful death
Into my being come,
Slay the old Adam with Thy breath,
The man of sin consume.

3
Whate’er I have, or can, or am,
I now would fain resign,
And lose my nature, and my name,
O God, to purchase Thine.

4

Withhold whate’er my flesh requires,
Poison my pleasant food,
Spoil my delights, my vain desires,
My all of creature-good.

5

My old affections mortify,
Nail to the cross my will,
Daily, and hourly bid me die,
Or altogether kill.

6

 Passion, and appetite destroy,
Tear, tear this pride away,
And all my boast, and idle joy,
And all my nature slay.

7

Jesu, my life, appear within,
And bruise the serpent’s head,
Enter my soul, extirpate sin,
Cast out the cursed seed.

8

 Thou wilt, I know, thou wilt appear,
And end this inward strife,
Thy harbinger proclaims Thee near,
And death makes way for life.

9

 Hast thou not made me willing, Lord?
Would I not die this hour?
Then speak the killing, quickening word,
Slay, raise me by thy power.

10

 Slay me, and I in Thee shall trust,
With thy dead men arise,
Awake, and sing from out the dust,
Soon as this nature dies.

11

O let it now make haste to die,
The mortal wound receive;
So shall I live; and yet not I,
But Christ in me shall live.

12

 Be it according to Thy word,
This moment let it be,
The life I lose for thee my Lord,
I find again in thee.

*******