Try us, O God, and search the ground. C. Wesley. [Prayer for Unity.] Published in the Wesley Hymns and Sacred Poems, 1742, in 4 parts, as follows:—
i. Try us, 0 God, and search the ground. This part is in 6 stanzas of 4 lines. It was included, with the omission of stanza v., in G. Whitefield's Psalms & Hymns, 1753, p. 135; M. Madan's Psalms & Hymns, 1760, No. 122; and in later collections to the present day. The full form of the text was given in the Wesleyan Hymn Book, 1780, No. 489. Both forms are in extensive use. G. J. Stevenson's note in his Methodist Hymn Book Notes, 1883, p. 316, is specially inter¬esting as setting forth the spiritual use of these stanzas.
ii. Jesu, all power is given to Thee. This is in 8 stanzas of 4 lines. Not in common use.
iii. God of our life, at Thy command. In 6 stanzas of 4 lines. Not in common use.
iv. Jesu, united by Thy grace. This part, in 9 stanzas of 4 lines, was included in the Wesleyan Hymn Book, 1780, No. 490, and has also passed in full or in part into several collections in Great Britain and America. In the American Unitarian Hymns for the Church of Christ, Boston, 1853, stanzas i. and iii. are given as "Father, united by Thy grace."
There are also the following centos in common use:-
1. The sacred bond of perfectness. This, in the American Methodist Episcopal Hymns, 1849, &c, is composed of stanzas vi.-ix. of Pt. iv., slightly altered.
2. Through Him Who all our sickness felt. This, in the Irish Church Hymnal, 1873, is thus composed: stanzas ii. and iii. are from Pt. i. (stanzas iii., iv.), and stanzas i. and iv. are based upon thoughts and expressions scattered through the four parts. The complete hymn is headed "A Prayer for persons joined in Fellowship." Full original text in Poetical Works, 1868-72, ii. p. 136.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
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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