The worthies these of ancient days

Verse 1
The worthies these of ancient days,
By faith they lived, in faith they died:
Not yet receiv’d the promis’d grace,
But darkly from afar descri’d.

Verse 2
Assur’d the Saviour should appear,
And confident in Christ to come,
Him they embrac’d, tho’ distant near,
And languish’d for their heavenly home.

Verse 3
Pilgrims they here themselves confess’d,
Who no abiding-place must know,
Strangers on earth they could not rest,
Or find their happiness below.

Verse 4
Regardless of the things behind,
The earthly home from whence they came,
A better land they long’d to find,
A promis’d heaven was all their aim.

Verse 5
Their faith the gracious Father sees,
And kindly for his children cares,
He condescends to call them his,
And suffers them to call him theirs,

Verse 6
For them his heaven he hath prepar’d,
His New Jerusalem above,
And love is there their great reward,
A whole eternity of love.

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 214.
Publishing: Public Domain