Great Author of the Mystick Grace

Verse 1
Great Author of the Mystick Grace,
Whose Providence hath join’d our Hands,
Hath join’d our Hearts, to seek thy Face,
By sure, indissoluble Bands:
Ordain’d in Life and Death to prove
The Dignity of Nuptial Love;

Verse 2
To Thee, great GOD of Truth and Power,
Our Sacrifice of Thanks we pay,
Thy Grace Unspeakable adore,
And bless the glad revolving Day
Which mix’d our Souls in Bliss unknown
And made of Twain forever One.

Verse 3
Our growing Happiness and Love
From Thee we joyfully receive,
Our Comforts to thy Praise improve,
Our Body, Soul, and Spirit give
Thee, Saviour, Thee to glorify,
Thine, wholly Thine to live and die.

Verse 4
For This we first together came,
For This we still continue One,
T’experience all thy glorious Name,
To make thy glorious Nature known,
To magnify the Sacred Sign,
And prove the Ordinance Divine.

Verse 5
For This we met, with lowly Fear,
T’insure on Earth the Joys above,
To work out our Salvation here,
With chast Delight and purest Love,
T’injoy the Sense of Sins Forgiven,
And travel Hand in Hand to Heaven.

Verse 6
O may we ever keep in view
And labour toward the Blisful End,
In every Step the Prize pursue,
Till Both on Angels’ Wings ascend,
Both in the Wedding Garment drest
To share the Lamb’s Eternal Rest.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “Hymn for Two Persons on the Anniversary of Their Wedding. Mr. and Mrs. B.” This hymn appears in the manuscript “MS Hymns for Wedding Anniversaries.” 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 DDWes 1/45). 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 and Oliver A. Beckerlegge, eds., The Unpublished Poetry of Charles Wesley, vol. 3 (Nashville: Kingswood Books, 1992), pages 379-80.
Publishing: Public Domain