The poetical works of John and Charles Wesley

O God, Thou bottomless abyss,
Thee to perfection who can know?
O height immense! what words suffice
Thy countless attributes to show?
Unfathomable depths Thou art!
O, plunge me in Thy mercy's sea;
Void of true wisdom is my heart,
With love embrace and cover me.

144

While Thee, all-infinite, I set
By faith before my ravish'd eye,
My weakness bends beneath the weight;
O'erpower'd I sink, I faint, I die.

Eternity Thy fountain was,
Which, like Thee, no beginning knew;
Thou wast ere Time began his race,
Ere glow'd with stars the' ethereal blue:
Greatness unspeakable is Thine,
Greatness, whose undiminish'd ray
When short-lived worlds are lost, shall shine,
When earth and heaven are fled away.
Unchangeable, all-perfect Lord,
Essential life's unbounded sea,
What lives and moves, lives by Thy word,
It lives and moves and is from Thee.

Thy parent hand, Thy forming skill
Firm fix'd this universal chain;
Else empty, barren Darkness still
Had held his unmolested reign:
Whate'er in earth, or sea, or sky
Or shuns or meets the wandering thought,
Escapes or strikes the searching eye,
By Thee was to perfection brought.
High is Thy power above all height:
Whate'er Thy will decrees is done:
Thy wisdom, equal to Thy might,
Only to Thee, O God, is known.

Heaven's glory is Thy awful throne,
Yet earth partakes Thy gracious sway:
Vain man! thy wisdom folly own,
Lost is thy reason's feeble ray.

145

What his dim eye could never see,
Is plain and naked to Thy sight;
What thickest darkness veils, to Thee
Shines clearly as the morning light.
In light Thou dwell'st; light that no shade,
No variation ever knew;
And heaven and hell stand all display'd
And open to Thy piercing view.

Thou, true and only God, lead'st forth
The' immortal armies of the sky:
Thou laugh'st to scorn the gods of earth;
Thou thunder'st, and amazed they fly.
With downcast eye the' angelic choir
Appear before Thy awful face;
Trembling they strike the golden lyre,
And through heaven's vault resound Thy praise.
In earth, in heaven, in all Thou art;
The conscious creature feels Thy nod,
Whose forming hand on every part
Impress'd the image of its God.

Thine, Lord, is wisdom, Thine alone;
Justice and truth before Thee stand;
Yet, nearer to Thy sacred throne,
Mercy withholds Thy lifted hand.
Each evening shows Thy tender love,
Each rising morn Thy plenteous grace;
“Thy waken'd wrath doth slowly move,
Thy willing mercy flies apace.”
To Thy benign, indulgent care,
Father, this light, this breath we owe,
And all we have, and all we are
From Thee, great Source of Being, flow.

146

Parent of Good, thy bounteous hand
Incessant blessings down distils,
And all in air, or sea, or land
With plenteous food and gladness fills.
All things in Thee live, move, and are,
Thy power infused doth all sustain;
Even those Thy daily favours share
Who thankless spurn Thy easy reign.
Thy sun Thou bidd'st his genial ray
Alike on all impartial pour;
To all who hate or bless Thy sway
Thou bidd'st descend the fruitful shower.

Yet while, at length, who scorn'd Thy might
Shall feel Thee a consuming fire,
How sweet the joys, the crown how bright
Of those who to Thy love aspire!
All creatures praise the' Eternal Name!
Ye hosts that to His courts belong,
Cherubic choirs, seraphic flames,
Awake the everlasting song.
Thrice Holy, Thine the kingdom is,
The power omnipotent is Thine;
And when created nature dies,
Thy never-ceasing glories shine.

University of Virginia Library

GOD'S GREATNESS.

From the same.