Hymn: Thou Hidden Love of God

Hymn: Thou Hidden Love of God

Original Text
Charles and John Wesley, Psalms and Hymns (1738).
1Thou hidden love of God, whose height,
2    Whose depth unfathom'd no man knows,
3I see from far thy beauteous light,
4    Inly I sigh for thy repose;
5My heart is pain'd, nor can it be
6At rest, till it finds rest in thee.
7Thy secret voice invites me still,
8    The sweetness of thy yoke to prove:
9And fain I would: but tho' my will
10    Seem fix'd, yet wide my passions rove;
11Yet hindrances strew all the way;
12I aim at thee, yet from thee stray.
13'Tis mercy all, that thou hast brought
14    My mind to seek her peace in thee;
15Yet while I seek, but find thee not,
16    No peace my wand'ring soul shall see;
17O when shall all my wand'rings end,
18And all my steps to thee-ward tend!
19Is there a thing beneath the sun
20    That strives with thee my heart to share?
21Ah! tear it thence, and reign alone,
22    The Lord of ev'ry motion there;
23Then shall my heart from earth be free,
24When it hath found repose in thee.
25O hide this self from me, that I
26    No more, but Christ in me may live;
27My vile affections crucify,
28    Nor let one darling lust survive;
29In all things nothing may I see,
30Nothing desire or seek but thee.
31O Love, thy sov'reign aid impart,
32    To save me from low-thoughted care:
33Chase this self-will thro' all my heart,
34    Thro' all its latent mazes there:
35Make me thy duteous child, that I
37Ah no! ne'er will I backward turn:
38    Thine wholly, thine alone I am!
39Thrice happy he who views with scorn
40    Earth's toys, for thee his constant flame;
41O help that I may never move
42From the blest footsteps of thy love!
43Each moment draw from earth away
44    My heart that lowly waits thy call:
45Speak to my inmost soul, and say,
46    I am thy love, thy God, thy all!
47To feel thy power, to hear thy voice,
48To taste thy love, be all my choice.

Notes

36] Cf. 1 Cor. xv.45. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1738
RPO poem Editors
N. J. Endicott
RPO Edition
2RP.1.666; RPO 1996-2000.
Rhyme