Wesley Corpus

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 undiininish'd ray, When short-lived worlds are lost, shall shine, When earth and heaven are fled awav. 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 ! 3 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 ! 4 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. What our dim eye could never see, Is plain and naked to thy sight ; What thickest darkness veils, to thee Shines clearly as the morning light For Believers Rejoicing. 233 In light thou dwell'st ; light that no shade, No variation, ever knew ; Heaven, earth, and hell, stand all display'd, And open to thy piercing view. I rpHOU, true and only God, lead'st forth A The' immortal armies of the sky ; Thou laugh'st to scorn the gods of earth ; Thou thunderest, 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 Impressed 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 234: For Believers Rejoicing.