1 Except the Lord conduct the plan,
The best concerted schemes are vain,
And never can succeed;
We spend our wretched strength for naught;
But if our works in Thee be wrought,
They shall be blest indeed.
2 Lord, if Thou didst Thyself inspire
Our souls with this intense desire
Thy goodness to proclaim;
Thy glory if we now intend,
O let our deeds begin and end
Complete in Jesus' name.
3 Now, Jesus, now Thy love impart,
To govern each devoted heart,
And fit us for Thy will;
Deep founded in the truth of grace,
Build up Thy rising Church, and place
The city on the hill.
4 O let our love and faith abound;
O let our lives, to all around
With purest luster shine;
That all around our works may see,
And give the glory, Lord, to Thee,
The heavenly light divine.
Source: The A.M.E. Zion Hymnal: official hymnal of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church #365
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 >
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