Wisdom ascribe, and might and praise

Verse 1
Wisdom ascribe, and might, and praise
To God, who lengthens out our days,
Who spares us yet another year,
And lets us see his goodness here;
Happy, and wise, the time redeem,
And live, my friends, and die to him.

Verse 2
How often, when his arm was bar’d,
Hath he our sinful Israel spar’d!
Let them alone his mercy cried,
And turn’d the vengeful bolt aside,
Indulg’d another kind reprieve,
And strangely suffer’d us to live.

Verse 3
Laid to the root with conscious awe,
But now the threatning axe we saw,
We saw, when Jesus step’d between,
To part the punishment and sin,
He pleaded for the blood-bought race,
And God vouchsaf’d a longer space!

Verse 4
Still in the doubtful balance weigh’d
We trembled, while the remnant pray’d:
The Father heard his Spirit groan,
And answer’d mild It is my Son!
He let the prayer of faith prevail,
And mercy turn’d the hovering scale.

Verse 5
Merciful God, how shall we raise
Our hearts to pay thee all thy praise?
Our hearts shall beat for thee alone,
Our lives shall make thy goodness known,
Our souls and bodies shall be thine,
A living sacrifice divine.

Verse 6
I and my house will serve the Lord,
Led by the Spirit, and the word;
We plight our faith, assembled here,
To serve our God th’ ensuing year,
And vow, when time shall be no more,
Thro’ all eternity t’ adore.

Hymnal/Album: Introduced in Charles Wesley, Hymns for New Year's Day, M.DCC.L. (Bristol: Felix Farley, 1749). Published in The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Collected and Arranged by G. Osborn, Vol. 6 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1870), page 9.
Publishing: Public Domain