While his watchful friends are weeping

Verse 1
While his watchful friends are weeping,
Wrestling on in ceaseless prayer,
See him in the dungeon sleeping,
Careless, calm, and happy there!
Peace surpassing all expression
Fills and keeps his faithful heart,
Earnest of the full possession
Makes him eager to depart.

Verse 2
Shackled, death-devoted Peter
Sleeps on the Beloved Breast,
(Never were his slumbers sweeter)
Dreams of everlasting rest;
Passing, o’re his bloody passion
To a palace in the skies,
Sees the God of his salvation,
Grasps his Lord in paradise.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains.’—[Acts 12,] v. 6.” 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 265.
Publishing: Public Domain