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From the German by John Wesley
THOU hidden love of God, whose height, | |
| Whose depth unfathomed no man knows, | |
| I see from far thy beauteous light, | |
| Inly I sigh for thy repose. | |
| My heart is pained, nor can it be | 5 |
| At rest till it finds rest in thee. | |
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| Thy secret voice invites me still | |
| The sweetness of thy yoke to prove, | |
| And fain I would; but though my will | |
| Be fixed, yet wide my passions rove. | 10 |
| Yet hindrances strew all the way; | |
| I aim at thee, yet from thee stray. | |
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| ’T is mercy all that thou hast brought | |
| My mind to seek her peace in thee. | |
| Yet while I seek but find thee not | 15 |
| No peace my wand’ring soul shall see. | |
| Oh! when shall all my wand’rings end, | |
| And all my steps to-thee-ward tend? | |
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| Is there a thing beneath the sun | |
| That strives with thee my heart to share? | 20 |
| Ah! tear it thence and reign alone, | |
| The Lord of every motion there. | |
| Then shall my heart from earth be free, | |
| When it has found repose in thee. | |
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| Oh! hide this self from me, that I | 25 |
| No more, but Christ in me, may live. | |
| My vile affections crucify, | |
| Nor let one darling lust survive. | |
| In all things nothing may I see, | |
| Nothing desire or seek but thee. | 30 |
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| O Love, thy sovereign aid impart, | |
| To save me from low-thoughted care; | |
| Chase this self-will through all my heart, | |
| Through all its latent mazes there. | |
| Make me thy duteous child, that I | 35 |
| Ceaseless may Abba, Father, cry. | |
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| Ah! no; ne’er will I backward turn: | |
| Thine wholly, thine alone I am. | |
| Thrice happy he who views with scorn | |
| Earth’s toys, for thee his constant flame. | 40 |
| Oh! help, that I may never move | |
| From the blest footsteps of thy love. | |
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| Each moment draw from earth away | |
| My heart, that lowly waits thy call. | |
| Speak to my inmost soul, and say, | 45 |
| “I am thy Love, thy God, thy All.” | |
| To feel thy power, to hear thy voice, | |
| To taste thy love is all my choice. | |
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