All ye that pass by,
To Jesus draw nigh:
To you is it nothing that Jesus should die?
is, owing to its cheerful metre, hardly suited to the solemn services
of Good Friday, and was intended for the open air. It was headed
‘Invitation to Sinners,’ and was used by Whitefield with great effect
when preaching at the Market Cross, Nottingham, and elsewhere.
John Wesley appointed many fast days, and was careful to fix them on
Friday, but the observance of Lent does not seem to have been
enforced, or even strongly recommended, in the Methodist Society.
Hymns for saints’ days and for the minor festivals are unknown to the
Wesley poetry.