This article is the last article to focus on the actual verses in John and Charles Wesley's Hymns on the Lord's Supper that specifically reference our receiving the body and blood of Christ. In this article, I will reproduce hymn 112 and a verse each from 153 and 158.
In Part 6 of this series, I will take a look at particular references where John Wesley specifically discusses the body and blood of Christ in the Sacrament. I will likely also take note of some of the comments of some of Wesley's interpreters. Finally, I will attempt to draw some conclusions on this matter.
At this point, I draw your attention, once again to the hymns, themselves.
112:1. Eternal Spirit, gone up on high
Blessing for mortals to receive,
Send down those blessings from the sky,
To us Thy gifts and graces give;
With holy things our mouths are fill'd,
O let our hearts with joy o'erflow;
Descend in pardoning love reveal'd,
And meet us in Thy courts below.
2. Thy sacrifice without the gate
Once offer'd up we call to mind,
And humbly at Thy altar wait
Our interest in Thy death to find;
We thirst to drink Thy precious blood,
We languish in Thy wounds to rest,
And hunger for immortal food,
And long on all Thy love to feast.
3. O that we now Thy flesh may eat,
Its virtues really receive;
Empower'd by this immortal meat
Thy life of holiness to live:
Partakers of Thy sacrifice,
O may we all Thy nature share,
Till to the holiest place we rise
And keep the feast for ever there.
153:1 Father, Thy feeble children meet,
And make Thy faithful mercies known;
Give us through faith the flesh to eat,
And drink the blood of Christ Thy Son;
Honour Thine own mysterious ways,
Thy sacramental presence show,
And all the fulness of Thy grace,
With Jesus, on our souls bestow.
158:1 All praise to God above,
In whom we have believed,
The tokens of whose dying love
We have even now received
Have with His flesh been fed,
And drank His precious blood:
His precious blood is drink indeed,
HIs flesh immortal food.
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