But if Thou the Father show

But if thou the Father show,
Manifest to me his love,
I that hidden meat shall know,
I my Master’s joy shall prove,
Gladly in thy labours share,
Feast with thee on heavenly food,
Servant of thy church, declare
“Heaven on earth is Serving God.”

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled “I have meat to eat that ye know not of.”—[John] iv. 32. 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. 11 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1871), page 360. Wesley later altered this hymn in his 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.
Publishing: Public Domain