Scripture Verse

I will sing unto the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song, and He is become my salvation. Exodus 15:1–2

Introduction

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Johann Haydn (1737–1806)

Words: Charles Wes­ley, Hymns for Those That Seek and Those That Have Re­demp­tion in the Blood of Je­sus Christ 1747.

Music: Wor­ship (Hay­dn) Jo­hann M. Hay­dn (1737–1806) (🔊 pdf nwc).

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Charles Wesley (1707–1788)

Anecdote

One of the fierc­est ri­ots Charles Wes­ley ev­er faced was that at De­vizes in Feb­ru­ary, 1747. The Rev. John Me­ri­ton, a cler­gy­man from the Isle of Man, who died in 1753 and spent his last years in ac­com­pa­ny­ing and help­ing the Wes­leys, was his com­pan­ion.

The mob sur­round­ed the house where they were stay­ing, broke the win­dows, tore down the shut­ters, blocked the door with a wa­gon. Next day they poured wa­ter on the house with a hose. A con­st­able carr­ied this off, but they ob­tained the larg­er en­gine, flood­ed the rooms, and de­stroyed the fur­ni­ture. The mob un­tiled the roof that they might get hold of the Me­tho­dist preach­er.

At last the friends mount­ed their hors­es, and were es­cort­ed out of the town by the con­sta­ble and his pos­se. ‘We rode a slow pace up the street, the whole mul­ti­tude pour­ing along on both sides, and at­tend­ing us with loud ac­cla­ma­tions. Such fierce­ness and dia­bo­li­cal mal­ice I had not seen in hu­man fac­es. We felt great peace and ac­qui­es­cence in the hon­our done us, while the whole town were spec­ta­tors of our march.’

When they reached Wrex­al, ‘We joined in hear­ty prais­es to our De­liv­er­er, sing­ing the hymn, Wor­ship, and thanks and bless­ing, &c.’

Telford, pp. 286–87

Lyrics

Worship, and thanks, and bless­ing,
And strength as­cribe to Je­sus!
Jesus alone de­fends His own,
When earth and hell op­press us!
Jesus with joy we wit­ness
Almighty to de­liv­er;
Our seals set to, that God is true,
And reigns a king for ev­er.

Omnipotent Re­deem­er,
Our ran­somed souls adore Thee;
Our Sav­ior Thou, we find it now,
And give Thee all the glo­ry.
We sing Thine arm un­short­ened,
Brought through our sore temp­ta­tion;
With heart and voice in Thee re­joice,
The God of our sal­va­tion.

Thine arm hath safe­ly brought us
A way no more ex­pect­ed,
Than when Thy sheep passed through the deep,
By crys­tal walls pro­tec­ted.
Th glo­ry was our rear­ward,
Thy hand our lives did co­ver,
And we, e’en we, have passed the sea,
And marched tri­um­phant ov­er.

Save as de­vot­ed Pe­ter
Betwixt the sol­diers sleep­ing,
Like sheep we lay to wolves a prey,
Yet still in Je­sus’ keep­ing.
Thou from th’in­fer­nal He­rod,
And Jew­ish ex­pec­ta­tion,
Hast set us free! All praise to Thee
O God of our sal­va­tion.

The world and Sa­tan’s ma­lice
Thou, Je­sus, hast con­found­ed;
And, by Thy grace, with songs of praise
Our hap­py souls re­sound­ed.
Accepting our de­liv­er­ance,
We tri­umph in Thy fa­vor,
And for the love which now we prove,
Shall praise Thy name for­ev­er.