Warn’d from the body to depart

Verse 1
Warn’d from the body to depart,
What shall I of my God desire?
Pardon, and grace to keep my heart,
Till Thou my ready soul require.

Verse 2
All that is past, my God, forgive
For the short time to come defend,
And strengthning without sin to live
O bless me with a peaceful end.

Verse 3
Meet for the fellowship above
The glories of eternity,
Thy servant, Lord, with ease remove,
And let me fall asleep in Thee.

Verse 4
Do Thou, if so thy love ordain,
Gently the knot of life untie,
And free from sin, and free from pain
In mercy’s arms I sweetly die.

Hymnal/Album: This hymn appears in the manuscript “MS Preparation for Death.” This manuscript is part of the collection of the Methodist Archive and Research Centre in The John Rylands Library, The University of Manchester (accession number MA 1977/578, Charles Wesley Notebooks Box 3). Accessed through the website of The Center for Studies in the Wesleyan Tradition, Duke Divinity School. Introduced in Charles Wesley, Preparation for Death, in Several Hymns (London, 1772). Published in The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Collected and Arranged by G. Osborn, Vol. 7 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1870), page 404.
Publishing: Public Domain