Verse 1
And can I in sorrow lie[1] down
My weary and languishing head,
Nor think on the souls that are gone,
Nor envy the peaceable dead!
The peaceable dead are set free,
The good which I covet they have,
An end of their sorrows they see,
And bury their cares in the grave.

Verse 2
Their souls are impassive above,
And nothing of mortals they know,
Unless on an errand of love
They visit a mourner below,
With pity angelical view
A spirit imprison’d in pain,
And long for his happiness too,
And wait for his bursting the chain.

Verse 3
Ye souls of the righteous, appear,
If any are waiting around,
To look on a spectacle here,
In iron and misery bound;
Survey the sad children of men,
The purchase of mercy divine,
And say, if ye ever have seen
A soul so afflicted as mine.

Verse 4
When will the affliction be o’er,
When will the fierce agony cease!
With those that are gather’d before
I press to the haven of peace:
I would as a shadow remove,
And suddenly vanish away,
Escape to the spirits above,
Ascend to the regions of day!

[1] Wesley changed “lie” to “lay” in 1761.