Verse 1
Father, with joy we praise
Thy providential care,
Snatch’d in our youthful days
From sin and Satan’s snare,
We own, and thankfully approve
Thy merciful design,
And vow to seek the things above,
And live entirely thine.

Verse 2
But vain our vows, we know,
And strongest promises,
Unless our God bestow
The power himself to please:
Nor men, nor means can change the heart,
Or render it sincere,
’Till thou the principle impart
Of godly, gracious fear.

Verse 3
Hear then thy children’s call,
Fulfil thine[1] own desire,
And kindle in us all
A spark of heavenly fire,
A taste of God, a seed of grace
Let every soul receive,
And now begin the Christian race,
And now begin to live.

Verse 4
Train’d up in the true way
Wherein we ought to go,
Preserve us, lest we stray,
When more in years we grow;
O let us not, when old, depart
From our integrity,
But love our God with all our heart,
And live and die to thee.

[1] Wesley changed “thine” to “thy” in 1768.