While Jacob for a wife doth wait,
A length of servile years (Hosea 12:12)
(His love to Rachel is so great)
As a few days appears: (Gen. 29:20)
And shall I think it long to stay,
Or wish my labours past?
A thousand years are but a day, (Ps. 90:4, II Pet. 3:8)
If Christ be mine at last.
While Jacob for a wife doth wait
Hymnal/Album: Originally titled “Israel served for a wife.”—[Hosea] xii. 12. 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 80.
Publishing: Public Domain