Religion

Jesus Christ, the Saviour of All Men

by Charles Wesley 1707–1788

From Hymns on God's Everlasting Love (1741) · Osborn ed., vol. 3 (1869)

Religion

See, sinners, in the gospel glass,
The Friend and Saviour of mankind!
Not one of all the' apostate race
But may in Him salvation find:
His thoughts, and words, and actions prove —
His life and death — that God is love.

Behold the Lamb of God, who bears
The sins of all the world away!
A servant's form He meekly wears,
He sojourns in an house of clay;
His glory is no longer seen,
But God with God is man with men.

See where the God incarnate stands,
And calls His wandering creatures home!
He all day long spreads out His hands, —
"Come, weary souls, to Jesus come!
Ye all may hide you in My breast;
Believe, and I will give you rest.
Inserted in the second number of the " Arminian Magazine."

"Ah! do not of My goodness doubt,
My saving grace for all is free;
I will in nowise cast him out
Who comes, a sinner, unto Me;
I can to none Myself deny;
Why, sinners, will ye perish, why?"

(The mournful cause let Jesus tell)
"They will not come to Me, and e:
I did not force them to rebel,
Or call when I had nought to give,
Invite them to believe a lie,
Or any soul of man pass by."

Sinners, believe the gospel word;
Jesus is come, your souls to save!
Jesus is come, your common Lord!
Pardon ye all in Him may have;
May now be saved, whoever will;
This Man receiveth sinners still.

See where the lame, the halt, the blind,
The deaf, the dumb, the sick, the poor,
Flock to the Friend of human kind,
And freely all accept their cure:
To whom doth He His help deny?
Whom in His days of flesh pass by!

Did not His word the fiends expel,
The lepers cleanse, and raise the dead?
Did He not all their sickness heal,
And satisfy their every need?
Did He reject His helpless clay,
Or send them sorrowful away?

Nay, but His bowels yearn'd to see
The people hungry, scatter'd, faint;
Nay, but He utter'd over thee
Jerusalem, a true complaint;
Jerusalem, who shedd'st His blood,
That, with His tears, for thee hath flow'd.

How oft for thy hard-heartedness
Did Jesus in his Spirit groan!
The things belonging to thy peace,
Hadst thou, O bloody city, known,
Thee, turning in thy gracious day,
He never would have cast away.

He wept, because thou wouldst not see
The grace which sure salvation brings:
How oft would He have gather'd thee,
And cherish'd underneath His wings;
But thou wouldst not — unhappy thou!
And justly art thou harden'd now.

Would Jesus have the sinner die?
Why hangs He then on yonder tree?
What means that strange expiring cry,
(Sinners, He prays for you and me,)
"Forgive them, Father, O forgive,
They know not that by Me they live!"

He prays for those that shed His blood:
And who from Jesu's blood is pure?
Who hath not crucified his God?
Whose sins did not His death procure?
If all have sinn'd through Adanfs fall,
Our Second Adam died for all.

Adam descended from above
Our loss of Eden to retrieve,
Great God of universal love,
If all the world in Thee may live,
In us a quickening Spirit be,
And witness, Thou hast died for me.

Extend to me the cleansing tide
Which freely flow'd for all mankind,
Open the fountain of Thy side,
In Thee may I redemption hnd,
Give me redemption in Thy blood;
For me and all mankind it flow'd.

Dear, loving, all-atoning Lamb,
Thee by Thy painful agony,
Thy bloody sweat, Thy grief and shame,
Thy cross and passion on the tree,
Thy precious death, and life, I pray —
Take all, take all my sins away!

O let me kiss Thy bleeding feet,
And bathe, and wash them with my tears;
The story of Thy love repeat
In every drooping sinner's ears,
That all may hear the quickening sound:'
If I, even I, have mercy found!

O let Thy love my heart constrain,
Thy love for every sinner free,
That every fallen soul of man
May taste the grace that found out me;
That all mankind, with me, may prove
Thy sovereign, everlasting love.

✦ ✦ ✦

Attributed to Charles Wesley; Osborn's edition does not distinguish the brothers

MLA

Wesley, Charles. “Jesus Christ, the Saviour of All Men.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/wesley_c/357/.

Chicago

Wesley, Charles. “Jesus Christ, the Saviour of All Men.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/wesley_c/357/.

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