We praise Thee, Lord! In Thee shall ever be,
As in the Father, our supreme delight;
Yet with more fervour when Thy face we see,
And worship by the Holy Spirit’s might.
Still here and now our sweetest songs we raise,
And Thee as universal Lord confess,
Waiting Thine advent thro’ the laggard days,
In which we tread this weary wilderness.
To us Thou hast the Father’s name made known,
And by Thy Spirit good on us bestowed:
Thou hast declared, and we would gladly own,
Our home is in the Father’s blest abode.
That home of love which on our vision now
Gleams by the glory of the light divine,
Where Thou art gone, and unto whither Thou
Art leading those made by Thy sorrows Thine.
That love wherewith Thyself the Father loved
Before the worlds into existence came,
That love reciprocal, eternal proved
Thro’ man’s rejection, curse and cross and shame.
That love, without beginning, without end,
Come from the brightness unapproachable;
And in derision Thou the sinner’s Friend
Wast styled by those who sought Thy blood to spill.
That love that met us in our death of sin,
When we from God had wandered far away;
That love that stooped our stubborn hearts to win,
And in the grave for our offences lay.
O love unfathomed! By poor man unsought,
Abhorred, rejected, as by angels fell,
Disfamed, disfavoured, and a thing of naught,
As tho’ it issued from the heart of hell.
We make our boast in Thee, Thou who the blame
For us didst bear in mercy to redeem
Our souls from righteous wrath’s devouring flame,
And bring us to where endless glories gleam.
O grace unspeakable! love limitless,
The power of which could death alone declare,
But which from everlasting blessedness
Brought Thee to death for us, the curse to bear.
And we are Thine by all the bitter grief
That Thou didst suffer, and for us didst die,
And to our joy and infinite relief
Thou soon shall call us to our home on high.
We praise Thee, blest Redeemer, Friend indeed,
And Friend for ever, whom to see we long,
And sing with Thee the song that Thou shalt lead
With all Thy ransomed and triumphant throng.