But could the chief apostle grieve

Verse 1
But could the chief apostle grieve,
That Jesus should a saint receive,
To everlasting rest?
Then I may lawfully bemoan
Myself, for her to glory gone
In her Redeemer’s breast.

Verse 2
My friend no more on earth appears;
The tribute of these pious tears
She asks, and justifies:
And weeping, thro’ the vale of woe,
With calm submissive grief I go,
To meet her in the skies.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled “He was sick nigh unto death; but God had mercy on him, and on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.”—[Phil.] ii. 27. Introduced in Charles Wesley, Short Hymns on Select Passages of the Holy Scriptures, Vol. 2 (Bristol: Farley, 1762). Published in The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Collected and Arranged by G. Osborn, Vol. 13 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1872), page 79.
Publishing: Public Domain