Thou didst rejoice to’ obey

Verse 1
Thou didst rejoice t’ obey
Thy Father’s utmost will:
Thy joy, dear Lord, in us shall stay
Who thy commands fulfil:
And when thy will is done
By us, like those above,
We find our heaven on earth begun
In pure obedient love.

Verse 2
The more like Thee we live,
The fuller joy is given,
We more abundant bliss receive,
And larger draughts of heaven:
Our confidence fill up,
Till faith improves to sight;
And then we lose both faith and hope
In love’s supreme delight.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.’—[John 15,] v. 11." This hymn appears in the 1763-64 manuscript “MS John.” 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 1977/573, Charles Wesley Notebooks Box 3). Accessed through the website of The Center for Studies in the Wesleyan Tradition, Duke Divinity School. Published in The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Collected and Arranged by G. Osborn, Vol. 12 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1871), page 25.
Publishing: Public Domain