Sunday, August 26, 2007

A Charge to Keep I Have, by Charles Wesley

This year is the 300th anniversary of Charles Wesley's birth.

Here is a hymn, which I have heard sung, sometimes at a ministerial ordination service, from over 100 by Wesley, posted by the Cyberhymnal:

A charge to keep I have,
A God to glorify,
A never-dying soul to save,
And fit it for the sky.

To serve the present age,
My calling to fulfill:
O may it all my powers engage
To do my Master’s will!

Arm me with jealous care,
As in Thy sight to live;
And O Thy servant, Lord, prepare
A strict account to give!

Help me to watch and pray,
And on Thyself rely,
Assured, if I my trust betray,
I shall for ever die.

(1762, hence public domain. My source is here. That source says that the hymn was based on Matthew Henry's commentary on Leviticus.) Thanks for reading!

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