1 Blest be the dear uniting love
That will not let us part;
Our bodies may far off remove,
We still are one in heart.
2 Joined in one spirit to our Head;
Where He appoints we go;
And still in Jesus' footsteps tread,
And show His praise below.
3 O may we ever walk in Him,
And nothing know beside,
Nothing desire nothing esteem,
But Jesus crucified!
4 Closer and closer let us cleave
To His beloved embrace;
Expect His fulness to receive,
And grace to answer grace.
5 Partakers of the Savior's grace,
The same in mind and heart.
Nor joy, nor grief, nor time, nor place,
Nor life, nor death can part.
Source: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal #527
First Line: | Blest be the dear united love |
Title: | Closing Conference |
Author: | Charles Wesley (1742) |
Meter: | 8.6.8.6 |
Language: | English |
Copyright: | Public Domain |
Blest be the dear uniting love. C. Wesley. [Parting.] Published in Hymns & Sacred Poems, 1742, p. 159, in 8 stanzas of 4 lines, and again Poetical Works, 1868-72, vol. ii. p. 221. It was given in the Wesleyan Hymn Book, 1780, No. 520, with alterations, and the omission of stanzas v. and vi. This form of the hymn is in the revised edition, 1875, No. 534, and in most collections of the Methodist body. From Whitetield's Collection 1753, to the present it has also been in use amongst various denominations in one form or another, ranging from 5 stanzas in Whitefield to 3 stanzas as in several American collections. This hymn has been ascribed to J. Cennick in error.
-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)