When I have run my earthly race

Verse 1
When I have run my earthly race,
Lord, I want no greater praise,
If thy true worshippers
Their momentary loss deplore,
And widows desolate and poor
Imbalm me with their tears.

Verse 2
Till then I would my hands employ,
Serving them with humblest joy
And warmest charity:
For taught of God, I surely know,
That ministring to saints below,
I cloath and cherish Thee.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘All the widows stood by him weeping, and shewing the coats and garments which Dorcas made, while she was with them.’—[Acts 9,] v. 39.” 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 The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Collected and Arranged by G. Osborn, Vol. 12 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1871), page 241.
Publishing: Public Domain