Blest be the dear, uniting love

Verse 1
Blest be the dear, uniting love
That will not let us part:
Our bodies may far off remove,
We still are join’d in heart. (Col. 2:5, I Thess. 2:17)

Verse 2
Join’d in one Spirit to our head, (Eph. 4:15-16, I Cor. 12:13, Col. 1:18)
Where he appoints we go, (Matt. 28:19-20, Mark 16:15)
And still in Jesu’s footsteps tread, (I Pet. 2:21)
And do his work below.

Verse 3
O let us ever walk in him, (Col. 2:6)
And nothing know beside,
Nothing desire, nothing esteem
But Jesus crucified. (I Cor. 2:2, Gal. 6:14, Phil. 3:8-10)

Verse 4
Closer, and closer let us cleave (James 4:8, Deut. 10:20)
To his belov’d embrace,
Expect his fulness to receive,
And grace to answer grace. (John 1:16)

Verse 5
While thus we walk with Christ in light (I John 1:7)
Who shall our souls disjoin, (Rom. 8:38-39)
Souls, which himself vouchsafes t’ unite
In fellowship divine! (John 17:21)

Verse 6
We all are one who him receive, (John 17:21, Gal. 3:28, I Cor. 12:13)
And each with each agree, (Eph. 4:3-4)
In him the one, the truth, we live, (John 14:6)
Blest point of unity!

Verse 7
Partakers of the Saviour’s grace, (II Pet. 1:4, Phil. 1:7)
The same in mind and heart, (Phil. 2:2, I Cor. 1:10)
Nor joy, nor grief, nor time, nor place,
Nor life, nor death can part: (Rom. 8:38-39)

Verse 8
But let us hasten to the day
Which shall our flesh restore, (Phil. 3:21, Job 19:26)
When death shall all be done away, (Rev. 21:4, I Cor. 15:52-55, I Cor. 15:26)
And bodies part no more.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: "At Parting." Introduced in Hymns and Sacred Poems (1742), published by John and Charles Wesley (London: William Strahan, 1742). Published in The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Collected and Arranged by G. Osborn, Vol. 2 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1869), page 221.
Publishing: Public Domain