Verse 1
Blessing, and thanks, and power, and praise
Jesus is worthy to receive,
Who keeps his saints throughout their days,
And doth the final victory give!
He doth [hath] his faithful mercies shown,
To Him, whose loss we now deplore,
Safe entred on that land unknown
To weep, and fret, and die no more.

Verse 2
A servant in his earliest years
After the hidden God he griev’d,
Till from his Saviour’s messengers
The welcom tidings he receiv’d:
His alms and prayers were not in vain,
But rose acceptable to heaven;
And God assur’d the pious man
His sins were all thro’ Christ forgiven.

Verse 3
O what a mighty change was wrought
By Jesus in his heart reveal’d!
Tis past the reach of human thought
That peace which spake his pardon seal’d:
As quite exempt from sin and care,
He feasted with the saints above;
And all his life was praise and prayer,
And all his Soul was joy and love.

Verse 4
Long he on Tabor’s top abode;
His Pattern there, and patient Head
The perfect way thro’ sufferings show’d,
And to the cross his follower led:
’Twas there he learnt with Christ to die,
And daily languish’d on the tree,
And ecchoed back the plaintive cry
“Why hath my God forsaken me![”]

Verse 5
Yet not forsook, but sorely tried,
But pain’d throughout his evil day,
And fashion’d like the Crucified,
He never cast his shield away:
Chose in the furnace of distress,
Kept by the power of Jesus Name,
He highly priz’d the passive grace
And prais’d his Saviour in the flame.

Verse 6
Witness his old companions there
How close in Jesus steps he trod,
The man of diffidence and prayer
The humble, upright man of God!
Happy, if all their faith coud prove,
Like him, like him their Lord confess,
By every work of genuine love,
By mercy, truth, and righteousness!

Verse 7
A doer of the word he heard,
He lived an Israelite unseen,
And always blest, who always fear’d
Not the reproach, but praise of men:
Not all the visits from his Lord,
The favors, or the grace bestow’d
Coud tempt to one vain-glorious word,
Or make him witness “I am good!”

Verse 8
Five hundred witnesses arose,
In proof of instantaneous grace,
And each his own perfection knows,
And simply utters his own praise!
Th’impeccable, immortal band
Intirely pure, intirely new
His sudden, full assent demand
“And he shall then be perfect too!”

Verse 9
Cautious their saying he receiv’d
Nor fondly fed their secret pride
Nor weakly every spirit believ’d,
Till in the sacred balance tried:
The language of their lives he heard,
Their sufferings, and their tempers prov’d,
And waiting till the fruit appear’d,
He saw them short; yet still he lov’d.

Verse 10
His wary, quick, judicious eye
Look’d every self-deceiver thro’,
But pass’d the imperfections by
Of people, and of preachers too:
Paternal faults he woud not see;
O’re failings in a saint indeed,
O’re wrinkles of infirmity
His pious love the mantle spred.