Father, I Long, I Faint to See

Father

I long

I faint to see

The place of Thine abode;

I’d leave Thine earth­ly courts

and flee

Up to Thy seat

my God!

Here I be­hold Thy dist­ant face

And ’tis a pleas­ing sight;

But to abide in Thine em­brace

Is in­fi­nite delight.

I’d part with all the joys of sense

To gaze up­on Thy throne;

Pleasure springs fresh for ev­er thence

Unspeakable

un­known.

There all the heav’n­ly hosts are seen

In shin­ing ranks they move

And drink im­mor­tal vi­gor in

With won­der and with love.

Then at Thy feet with aw­ful fear

Th’adoring ar­mies fall;

With joy they shrink to no­thing there

Before th’eter­nal All.

There I would vie with all the host

In du­ty and in bliss;

While less than no­thing I could boast

And van­ity con­fess.

The more Thy glo­ries strike mine eyes

The hum­bler I shall lie;

Thus while I sink

my joys shall rise

Unmeasurably high.