The word they may with joy receive,
But only for a time believe,
And soon unfaithful prove,
In fierce temptation’s hour they faint,
Wither, and fade away, who want
The root of humble love.
The word they may with joy receive
Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘They on the rock are they, which when they hear receive the word with joy, and these have no root &c.'—[Luke 8,] v. 13.” This hymn appears in the 1766 manuscript “MS Luke.” 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 1977/575, Charles Wesley Notebooks Box 3). Accessed through the website of The Center for Studies in the Wesleyan Tradition, Duke Divinity School. Published in S.T. Kimbrough Jr. and Oliver A. Beckerlegge, eds., The Unpublished Poetry of Charles Wesley, vol. 2 (Nashville: Kingswood Books, 1990), page 103.
Publishing: Public Domain