Father, thy merciful design
We see, and joyfully approve,
Thou kindly dost thy laws injoin,
To make us happy in thy love:
With joy we own the gracious end
For which thy laws were all bestow’d,
Thou dost by each command intend
Our present and eternal good.
Father, Thy merciful design
Hymnal/Album: Originally titled “That it might be well with them for ever.”—[Deut.] v. 29. Introduced in Charles Wesley, Short Hymns on Select Passages of the Holy Scriptures, Vol. 1 (Bristol: Farley, 1762). Published in The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Collected and Arranged by G. Osborn, Vol. 9 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1870), page 93.
Publishing: Public Domain