BETA

Hymn IV.

1.

O Thou ! sole Sire ! pervading Lord of all,1
Who spread’st thy fulness round this earthly ball ;2
You teach me still in every face to see3
An ampler mould than all the skies of Thee.4

2.

By Passion wrench’d and darken’d, torn by Hate ,5
By Sin dethroned from all our heavenly state,6
Thy spirit stain’d, defaced, and scarr’d with shame,7
Still shows on each thy noblest creature’s name.8

3.

Though changed, how far ! from all thy will commands,9
And bruised and maim’d by Evil’s rending hands ;10
While Life, and Thought, and Soul, and Sense are ours,11
Still lasts the wreck of more than earthly powers.12

4.

Renew—thou only canst, O God !— the plan13
Of truth and love, so blurr’d and crush’d in man—14
That good, design’d for all, to all unknown,15
Till set before our eyes in One alone.16

5.

From Him, so full of Thee, the Father’s mind,17
The Father’s holy love to all our kind,18
Oh, teach us Thou to draw whate’er of best19
Restores to Thee the self-bewilder’d breast !20

6.

Amid our waste be He a living spring,21
Amid our lawless wars a peaceful king ;22
In our dark night be He a dawning star,23
In woe a friend, to aid us come from far.24

7.

And thus, that we his help and hope may share,25
Our hearts, o’erthrown by sin, do Thou repair,26
And so in chambers purified by Thee,27
His peace may dwell, and there his Spirit be.28

8.

O Thou ! whose will has join’d us each to all,29
And made the lonely heart itself appal ;30
Who art the vital bond that knits in one31
Thy countless myriads born beneath the sun ;32

9.

Thou aid us, Heavenly Sire ! that each for each33
May live, as He for all, in deed and speech ;34
And so do Thou for us, paternal Lord,35
Make bright, like His, the face, and pure the word.36

10.

Like us, a man, He trode on earthly soil,37
He bore each pang, and strove in weary toil ;38
He spake with human words, with pity sigh’d ;39
Like us He mourn’d, and fear’d, and wept, and died.40

11.

Yet all thy fulness, Father, dwelt in Him,41
In whom no shadow made thy glory dim ;42
Such strength, O God ! from Him to us derive,43
And make, by life from Him, our death alive.44