Thou laidst on earth the stedfast base,
On which Thou dost thy kingdom raise,
Thy church to fill the realms above;
Thou hast with all his will complied,
And thro’ thy passion glorified
The righteous God of truth and love:
Thou hast thy ministry fulfill’d,
Thy faithful testimony seal’d,
Finish’d the work thy Father gave,
Then, when Thou didst incline thine head,
A voluntary Victim bleed,
And die Thyself the world to save.
Thou laid’st on earth the steadfast base
Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘I have glorified thee on earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. ’—[John 17,] v. 4. This hymn appears in the 1763-64 manuscript “MS John.” 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 1977/573, 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. 12 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1871), page 49.
Publishing: Public Domain