The poetical works of John and Charles Wesley

God is rich, and God alone:
The goods which we possess
Lent us by our Lord we own
As stewards of His grace:
Every talent we receive
Improved we should to Him restore,
Only for His service live,
And God in all adore.

Not employing for His use,
Our Master's goods we waste,
Life and all its blessings lose,
And our own souls at last;
Thoughtless of that day unknown,
When each shall at His bar appear,
Answer for the evil done
And good neglected here.

We shall stand before His face,
For all we now receive
(Every gift and every grace)
A strict account to give.
How we here our trust fulfill'd,
Our riches, time, and thoughts employ'd,
How we used the truth reveal'd,
And how the Christ of God.

1447.

[The men who seek their portion here]

The children of this world are in their, &c. —xvi. 8.

The men who seek their portion here,
To their own worldly interest true
Consistent with themselves appear,
With steady aim their end pursue,

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Contrivance, care, and foresight show
To' ensure the good they prize below.

Not half so wise the sons of light
The one thing needful to secure!
Toiling henceforth both day and night
To make our heavenly treasure sure,
O might we every means improve,
And Jesus every moment love!

1448.

[Help us to make the poor our friends]

Make to yourselves friends of the mammon, &c. —xvi. 9.

Help us to make the poor our friends,
By that which paves the way to hell,
That when our loving labour ends,
And dying from this earth we fail,
Our friends may greet us in the skies
Born to a life that never dies.

1449.

[Whoe'er his Master's money wastes]

He that is unjust in the least is unjust also, &c. —xvi. 10.

Whoe'er his Master's money wastes,
A prodigal of time becomes,
Swiftly to sure perdition hastes,
His grace, his life, his soul consumes,
And when the self-destroyer dies
Forfeits his portion in the skies.

1450.

[Ye rich, your poverty confess]

If ye have not been faithful in that which is, &c. —xvi. 12.

Ye rich, your poverty confess,
And low at Jesu's footstool bow,
Stewards of all ye here possess,
Proprietors of nothing now,
His goods as He directs employ,
And share at last your Master's joy.

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Foreign and false the riches here
Make themselves wings, and fly away:
Who bears the Christian character
Disdains to court their longer stay,
Restores the momentary loan,
And only heaven he calls his own.

For those eternal things design'd
Which Jesus did for him procure,
He sets on them his heart and mind,
The riches great, and true, and sure,
The fund of true unfading bliss
Which Jesus made for ever his.

1451.

[Which wilt thou serve? the world or God?]

No servant can serve two masters, &c. —xvi. 13.

Which wilt thou serve? the world or God?
Sinner, thou canst not both obey;
Each other contraries exclude:
If Mammon thine affections sway,
Thou must renounce the joys above,
Thou canst not God and money love.

Canst thou deliberate which to choose?
This moment with thine idols part,
The world with all its goods refuse,
Thy faithful undivided heart
To Christ thy rightful Master give,
And happy as His angels live.

1452.

[Riches to love and clothing gay]

There was a certain rich man, which was, &c. —xvi. 19.

Riches to love and clothing gay,
Themselves to pamper every day,
And to neglect the poor,

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Consigns the men who will not know
Their God, to everlasting woe,
And makes damnation sure.

Ye rich who live yourselves to please,
Your pleasures and luxurious ease
Compare to Jesus' cross:
How doth your life with His agree,
Your pomp with His humility,
Your riot with His laws?

Daily do you yourselves deny,
Your lusts and passions mortify,
And serve and suffer on?
Set ye your hearts on things above,
God beyond all His creatures love,
And worship Him alone?

Alas, ye scorn the Lord to fear,
To work out your salvation here,
Or all for Christ forego:
His needy members ye despise,
And shut against the light your eyes,
To lift them up—below!

1453.

[Behold a favourite of the skies!]

And there was a certain beggar named, &c. —xvi. 20.

Behold a favourite of the skies!
Before the glutton's gate he lies
In pining want and pain,
Cover'd with wounds and loathsome sores,
Relief he silently implores,
But asks the crumbs in vain.

1454.

[The dogs some small relief afford]

Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. —xvi. 21.

The dogs some small relief afford,
Kinder than their hard-hearted lord;
The wretch he passes by,

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Sufficient that his beasts he feeds,
He slights his fellow-creature's needs,
And lets the beggar die.

1455.

[Worn out with grief, and want, and pain]

The beggar died, and was carried by the angels, &c. —xvi. 22.

Worn out with grief, and want, and pain,
The beggar dies, and lives again
Beyond conception bless'd,
By flaming ministers convey'd
To realms of joy, he rests his head
On his Redeemer's breast.

1456.

[Gripp'd by the' arresting hand of death]

The rich man also died, and was buried, &c. —xvi. 22, 23.

Gripp'd by the' arresting hand of death,
The glutton too resigns his breath,
Lodged in a stately tomb!
His carcase leaves its bliss behind,
His soul with torturing fiends confined
Receives its fearful doom.

Below he lifts his haggard eyes,
Cursed with a glimpse of paradise,
And sees the beggar there:
The loss of heavenly happiness
Doth all his raging pangs increase
And deepens his despair.

Thou epicure not yet in hell,
Thy danger now submit to feel
While thy damnation stays:
Awake out of thy worldly dream,
Lift up thine eyes in prayer to Him
Who offers all His grace.

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Thou need'st not feel the' infernal woe,
Or to that place of torment go,
That endless misery:
Repent, renounce thy wealth and ease,
Sell all for Jesu's love, and seize
The heaven prepared for thee.

1457.

[In hell he pours a fruitless prayer]

Father Abraham, have mercy on me, &c. —xvi. 24.

In hell he pours a fruitless prayer,
No mercy for a suppliant there
Who would not hear the poor:
Unheard he must, unpitied cry,
The gnawing worm that cannot die,
The quenchless fire endure.

How righteous is the sinner's doom!
He who refused the poor a crumb
Desires a drop in vain;
Who sold his God for pleasures base
Is justly driven from His face
To everlasting pain.

1458.

[Why is he doom'd to endless pain?]

Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime, &c. —xvi. 25.

Why is he doom'd to endless pain?
Did he by fraud his wealth obtain?
No; but the blessings given
On his rich neighbours he bestow'd,
Enjoy'd himself instead of God,
And sought no other heaven.

He had the happiness he chose,
Sensual delight and soft repose,
Magnificence and fame:
And who from earth their joys receive
Their joys they soon, like him, shall leave
For that eternal flame.

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1459.

[Though now the good and evil meet]

Between us and you there is a great gulf, &c. —xvi. 26.

Though now the good and evil meet,
Though here the goats and sheep, the wheat
And tares we mingled see;
The' irremeable gulf betwixt
The saved and damn'd will soon be fix'd
For all eternity.

No hope shall the tormented know
Of 'scaping from the pit of woe,
And passing to the skies,
No fear shall with the bless'd remain
Of ever forfeiting again
Their heavenly paradise!

My God, to which shall I belong?
Rejoice with saints, or groan among
The cursed despairing crowd?
For Jesus' sake a sinner clear,
And give mine inmost soul to hear
The answer of His blood.

1460.

[Is there benevolence in hell?]

Send him to my father's house: for I, &c. —xvi. 27, 28.

Is there benevolence in hell?
Or can the damn'd compassion feel
At their associates' doom?
No: but an epicure below
May dread a huge increase of woe
When his associates come.

How will he their reproaches bear,
Who spread his table for a snare,
Taught them to scorn the poor,
Made them in all his crimes partake,
And left them all his goods to make
Their swift damnation sure?

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1461.

[We have them too; and Christ beside]

They have Moses and the prophets. —xvi. 29.

We have them too; and Christ beside:
His word and Spirit is our guide
In the celestial way;
His gospel and apostles show
The means to' escape that hellish woe,
“Repent, believe, obey.”

1462.

[In vain the self-deceiver stays]

If one went unto them from the dead, they, &c. —xvi. 30.

In vain the self-deceiver stays
For wonders of resistless grace
His stubborn heart to' incline,
Proof for his faith affects to want:
A thousand proofs if mercy grant,
He asks a farther sign.

Faith for his proofs is wanting still,
He will remain, because he will,
Unsaved and unforgiven;
Till hearkening to the sacred word
He leaves his sin, and serves his Lord,
His God come down from heaven.

1463.

[His oracles who disbelieve]

If they hear not Moses and the prophets, &c. —xvi. 31.

His oracles who disbelieve,
To miracles no credence give:
His oracles are fill'd
With wonders by Jehovah done
To make His truth and goodness known,
And speak His arm reveal'd.

Jesus by His stupendous grace
Another Lazarus did raise,
Him from the dead He sent;

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Himself on the third day arose,
To save His most obdurate foes,
Yet would they not repent.

Him and His friend they sought to slay,
Nor saw the clear meridian day
Which in their darkness shone,
Through passion blind and proud despite
They shut their eyes against the light
Of that meridian Sun.

Taught by their incredulity
The standing means vouchsafed by Thee
We thankfully embrace,
Thy Scriptures search to find our Lord
And listen to the joyful word
Of reconciling grace.

The sinner poor Thy word believes,
As full sufficient proof receives
What Thou art pleased to' impart:
But love alone can change the will,
But only Gilead's balm can heal
The blindness of my heart.

University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER XVI.

1446.

[God is rich, and God alone]