The days of abstinence were come

Verse 1
The days of abstinence were come,
The Bridegroom now was taken home
To highest heaven restor’d;
The Master’s mind his servants knew,
Who oft in prayer and fastings too
Obey’d his parting word.

Verse 2
But chiefly when their Lord’s intent
Call’d forth some chosen instrument,
Fasting to prayer they join’d,
Till Christ in his appointed ways
Reveal’d the counsels of his grace,
And shew’d them all his mind.

Verse 3
Jesus from them we learn to’ obey,
With sacred abstinence to pray,
That God his church would bless
With chosen, Apostolic men,
And preachers by his Spirit ordain,
And give their word success.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘And when they had fasted, and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.’—[Acts 13,] v. 3.” This hymn appears in the 1764 manuscript “MS Acts.” 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 1977/555, Charles Wesley Notebooks Box 1). 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 and Oliver A. Beckerlegge, eds., The Unpublished Poetry of Charles Wesley, vol. 2 (Nashville: Kingswood Books, 1990), page 350.
Publishing: Public Domain