Page:The Methodist Hymn-Book Illustrated.djvu/288

 276 THE METHODIST HYMN-BOOK ILLUSTRATED

Hymn 447. Hark, how the watchmen cry.

CHARLES WESLEY (i).

Hymns and Sacred Poems, 1749 ; Works ; v. 271. Hymns for the Watchnight, No. 8. Twelve verses. Verses I, 4, 9, 10 are selected to make this hymn.

Hymn 448. Ah! Lord, with trembling I confess.

CHARLES WESLEY (i).

Short Hymns on Select Passages of Scripture, 1762 ; Works, x. 165. Matt. v. 13.

Hymn 449. Come, O Thou Traveller unknown.

CHARLES WESLEY (i).

Hymns and Sacred Poems, 1742; Works, ii. 173. Wrestling Jacob. Gen. xxxii. 24-31. Ver. 5 is omitted

Tis all in vain to hold Thy tongue, Or touch the hollow of my thigh ; Though every sinew be unstrung,

Out of my arms Thou shalt not fly ; Wrestling I will not let Thee go Till I Thy name, Thy nature know. And ver. 7

My strength is gone, my nature dies, I sink beneath Thy weighty hand, Faint to revive, and fall to rise ;

I fall, and yet by faith I stand, I stand, and will not let Thee go, Till I Thy name, Thy nature know.

In the obituary of his brother, presented to the Conference of 1788, John Wesley says, His least praise was his talent for poetry, although Dr. Watts did not scruple to say that that single poem, &quot; Wrestling Jacob,&quot; was worth all the verses he himself had written.

James Montgomery (Christian Psalmist, p. xxiv.) regards the poem as among the author s highest achievements ; in which, with consummate art, he has carried on the action of a lyric drama ; every turn in the conflict with the mysterious Being against whom Jacob wrestles all night being marked with precision by the varying language of the speaker, accompanied by intense, increasing interest, till the rapturous moment of

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