My God, how wonderful thou art,
Thy majesty how bright,
How beautiful thy mercy seat
In depths of burning light!
How dread are thine eternal years,
O everlasting Lord,
By prostrate spirits, day and night,
Incessantly adored.
How beautiful, how beautiful
The sight of thee must be,
Thine endless wisdom, boundless power,
And awful purity!
O how I fear thee, living God!
With deepest, tenderest fears,
And worship thee with trembling hope
And penitential tears.
Yet I may love thee too, O Lord!
Almighty as thou art,
For thou hast stooped to ask of me
The love of this poor heart.
Oh, then, this worse than worthless heart
In pity deign to take,
And make it love thee for thyself,
And for thy glory's sake.
No earthly father loves like thee,
No mother half so mild
Bears and forbears, as thou hast done
With me, thy sinful child.
Only to sit and think of God,
O what a joy it is!
To think the thought, to breathe the name--
Earth has no higher bliss.
Father of Jesus, love's Reward!
What rapture will it be,
Prostrate before thy throne to lie
And gaze, and gaze on thee!
--Frederick William Faber.