Hymn: Thou Hidden Love of God

Thou hidden love of God, whose height,

      Whose depth unfathom’d no man knows,

I see from far thy beauteous light,

      Inly I sigh for thy repose;

My heart is pain’d, nor can it be

At rest, till it finds rest in thee.

Thy secret voice invites me still,

      The sweetness of thy yoke to prove:

And fain I would: but tho’ my will

      Seem fix’d, yet wide my passions rove;

Yet hindrances strew all the way;

I aim at thee, yet from thee stray.

’Tis mercy all, that thou hast brought

      My mind to seek her peace in thee;

Yet while I seek, but find thee not,

      No peace my wand’ring soul shall see;

O when shall all my wand’rings end,

And all my steps to thee-ward tend!

Is there a thing beneath the sun

      That strives with thee my heart to share?

Ah! tear it thence, and reign alone,

      The Lord of ev’ry motion there;

Then shall my heart from earth be free,

When it hath found repose in thee.

O hide this self from me, that I

      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.

O Love, thy sov’reign aid impart,

      To save me from low-thoughted care:

Chase this self-will thro’ all my heart,

      Thro’ all its latent mazes there:

Make me thy duteous child, that I

Ceaseless may Abba, Father, cry!

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;

O help that I may never move

From the blest footsteps of thy love!

Each moment draw from earth away

      My heart that lowly waits thy call:

Speak to my inmost soul, and say,

      I am thy love, thy God, thy all!

To feel thy power, to hear thy voice,

To taste thy love, be all my choice.