Father, we in the joy rejoice

Verse 1
Father, we in the joy rejoice
Of thine eternal Son,
Approve thy wise mysterious choice,
Thy depths of love unknown:
Thy love demands our highest praise,
And lo, we with our Lord
Adore the wonders of thy grace
By Christ himself ador’d.

Verse 2
Not by a blind capricious will
Thou dost thy gifts bestow,
But justly from the proud conceal
What all the humble know:
To babes Thou dost thy truths declare,
Explain thy whole design,
And stamp them with the character
The holy Name Divine.

Verse 3
For this we magnify thy name
Thro’ our High-priest above,
Thine awful righteousness proclaim,
Thy free electing love:
Who perish, perish self-destroy’d,
While we our voices raise
In songs of grateful joy employ’d,
Forever sav’d by grace.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘Jesus rejoiced in Spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father.'—[Luke 10,] v. 21.” 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 The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Collected and Arranged by G. Osborn, Vol. 11 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1871), page 194.
Publishing: Public Domain