Trial and Faith of Abraham

Top Text Author Text Info Notes Tune Timeline Page Scans Instances

Abraham, when severely tried

Author: Charles Wesley
Tune: PARK STREET
Published in 33 hymnals

Representative Text

1 Abraham, when severely tried,
His faith by his obedience showed;
He with the harsh command complies,
And gave his Isaac back to God.

2 His son the father offered up--
Son of his age, his only son;
Object of all his joy and hope.
And less beloved than God alone.

3 Oh, for a faith like his, that we
The bright example may pursue;
May gladly give up all to thee,
To whom our more than all is due.

4 Is there a thing than life more dear?
A thing from which we cannot part?
We can, we now rejoice to tear
The idol from our bleeding heart.

5 Jesus, accept our sacrifice;
All things for thee we count but loss:
Lo! at thy word our idol dies--
Dies on the altar of thy cross.

6 For what to thee, O Lord, we give,
A hundred-fold we here obtain;
And soon with thee shall all receive,
And loss shall be eternal gain.

Source: The Voice of Praise: a collection of hymns for the use of the Methodist Church #623

All representative texts • Compare texts ^ top

Author: Charles Wesley

Charles Wesley, M.A. was the great hymn-writer of the Wesley family, perhaps, taking quantity and quality into consideration, the great hymn-writer of all ages. Charles Wesley was the youngest son and 18th child of Samuel and Susanna Wesley, and was born at Epworth Rectory, Dec. 18, 1707. In 1716 he went to Westminster School, being provided with a home and board by his elder brother Samuel, then usher at the school, until 1721, when he was elected King's Scholar, and as such received his board and education free. In 1726 Charles Wesley was elected to a Westminster studentship at Christ Church, Oxford, where he took his degree in 1729, and became a college tutor. In the early part of the same year his religious impressions were much deepene… Go to person page >

^ top

First Line:	Abraham, when severely tried
Title:	Trial and Faith of Abraham
Author:	Charles Wesley
Meter:	8.8.8.8
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

^ top

Notes

Abraham, when severely tried . C. Wesley. [Faith .] From Hymns and Sacred Poems, 1740, p. 12, and entitled "The Life of Faith Exemplified," being a paraphrase of Heb. xi. in 80 st. In 1780, 7 stanzas were included in the Wesleyan Hymn Book, No. 277, from whence it has passed into most of the collections of the Methodist bodies. Original text in Poetical Works of J. & C. Wesley, 1868-72, vol. i., p. 214.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

^ top