What hath this wretched world to give
Which Christians can with joy receive?
Its goods for a short moment stay,
And pass insensibly away:
I seek a permanent reward;
The favour of my glorious Lord,
The gift unspeakable be mine,
And all the heaven of love divine.
What hath this wretched world to give
Hymnal/Album: Originally titled “Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another.”—[Dan.] v. 17. Introduced in Charles Wesley, Short Hymns on Select Passages of the Holy Scriptures, Vol. 2 (Bristol: Farley, 1762). Published in The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Collected and Arranged by G. Osborn, Vol. 10 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1870), page 70.
Publishing: Public Domain