Tho’ long He seem’d as distant far,
His vineyard still ingross’d his care;
His servant in due time he sent,
To gather in the gracious rent:
His messenger was Good desires,
With which he freely all inspires,
And stirs us up to use the power,
To serve, and worship, and adore.
Though long he seem’d as distant far
Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘At the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant that he might receive of the fruit of the vineyard.’—[Mark 12,] v. 2.” This hymn appears in the 1766 manuscript “MS Mark.” 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 1977/574, 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. 11 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1871), page 49.
Publishing: Public Domain