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INSPIRER of the ancient seers,
   Who wrote from Thee the sacred page,
Kept through the long succeeding years
    For us in our benighted age:
The message of that Word impart
And break its life into our heart.
 
2  While now the text divine we read,
    With earnest prayer and strong desire,
O may a work in us proceed
    Our souls to quicken and inspire;
Our dullness help, our blindness chase,
And guide us by the light of grace.
 
3  The sacred lessons of Thy ways,
    Transmitted through Thy Word, repeat;
And train us up to themes of grace;
    And make us in Thy will complete;
Fulfil Thy love’s redeeming plan
And bring us to a perfect man.
 
4  So furnished from Thy treasury,
    O may we always ready stand
To help the souls redeemed by Thee
    In what their various states demand;
To teach, convince, correct, reprove,
And build them up in serving love.
 
Charles Wesley, 1707-88‡