Thy presence, Lord, the place doth fill,
My heart is now thy throne,
Thy holy, just and perfect will
Now in my flesh is done.
My steadfast soul, from falling free,
Doth now no longer rove,
For Christ is all the world to me
And all my heart is love.
--Charles Wesley, altered by J. M.
Two worlds are ours; 'tis only sin
Forbids us to descry
The mystic heaven and earth within
Plain as the sea and sky.
Thou who hast given me eyes to see
And love this sight so fair,
Give me a heart to find out thee,
And read thee everywhere.
--John Keble.
Speak to him, thou, for he hears,
And spirit with spirit can meet;
Closer is he than breathing,
And nearer than hands and feet.
--Alfred Tennyson.
Heaven above is softer blue,
Earth around is sweeter green,
Something lives in every hue
Christless eyes have never seen.
Birds with gladder songs o'erflow,
Flowers with deeper beauties shine;
Since I knew, as now I know,
I am his and he is mine.
Unheard, because our ears are dull,
Unseen, because our eyes are dim,
He walks the earth, the Wonderful,
And all good deeds are done to him.
--John Greenleaf Whittier.
Where'er I look one Face alone I see,
With every attribute of beauty in it blent;
Still, still the Godhead's face entrances me,
Yielding transcendency of all that can be spent.
--From the Persian.