By faith the handmaid of the Lord

Verse 1
By faith, the handmaid of the Lord,
Sarah, receiv’d a power unknown,
She judg’d him faithful to his word;
Barren and old she bore a son.

Verse 2
Nature had lost its genial power,
And Abraham was old in vain:
Impossibilities are o’er,
If faith assent, and God ordain.

Verse 3
He glorified Jehovah’s name;
(God spake the word, it must be done)
Father of nations he became,
And multitudes sprang forth from one.

Verse 4
From one old man the race did rise,
A barren womb the myriads bore,
Countless, as stars that deck the skies,
As sands that crown the ocean shore.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “The Life of Faith, Exemplified in the Eleventh Chapter of St. Paul’s Epistle to the Hebrews.” Introduced in Hymns and Sacred Poems (1740), published by John and Charles Wesley (London: William Strahan, 1740). Published in The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Collected and Arranged by G. Osborn, Vol. 1 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1868), page 213.
Publishing: Public Domain