The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley 13On Reading M. de Renty’s Life

We deem the saints from mortal flesh released,

With brighter day and bolder raptures blest:

Sense now no more precludes the distant thought,

And naked souls now feel the God they sought.

But thy great soul, which walk'd with God on earth,

Can scarce be nearer by that second birth:

By change of place dull bodies may improve,

But spirits to their bliss advance by love.

Thy change insensible brought no surprise,

Inured to innocence and paradise:

For earth, not heaven, thou through a glass didst view;

The glass was love; and love no evil knew,

But in all places only heaven did shew.

Canst thou love more, when from a body freed,

Which so much life, so little had of need?

So pure, it seem'd for this alone design'd,

To usher forth the virtues of the mind!

From nature's chain, from earthly dross set free,

One only appetite remain'd in thee:

That appetite it mourn'd but once denied;

For when it ceased from serving God, it died.