That apostolic ship

Verse 1
That Apostolic ship,
That church where Christ abides,
Loos’d from the earth, while in the deep,
Above the deep it rides,
Of unity the school,
Of truth the sacred chair!
Jesus delights to sit, and rule,
And teach his people there.

Verse 2
He at the helm appears,
Directs by his command,
Cooperates with his ministers,
And bids them leave the land,
Themselves from sin secure,
From worldly things remove,
And keep their life and conscience pure,
And work for Him they love.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘He entred into one of the ships &c.’—[Luke 5,] v. 3.” This hymn appears in the 1766 manuscript “MS Luke.” 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 1977/575, Charles Wesley Notebooks Box 3). Accessed through the website of The Center for Studies in the Wesleyan Tradition, Duke Divinity School. Published in S.T. Kimbrough Jr. and Oliver A. Beckerlegge, eds., The Unpublished Poetry of Charles Wesley, vol. 2 (Nashville: Kingswood Books, 1990), page 91. Verse 1 was 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 141.
Publishing: Public Domain