Hymn 263. Desiring to Know and Love him More

         Thou lovely source of true delight,

                     Whom I unseen adore,

         Unveil thy beauties to my sight,

                     That I may love thee more.

         Thy glory o’er creation shines;                                                              

                     But in thy sacred Word

         I read, in fairer, brighter lines,

                     My bleeding, dying Lord.

         ’Tis here, when’er my comforts droop,

                     And sins and sorrows rise,                                                         

         Thy love, with cheerful beams of hope,

                     My fainting heart supplies.

         But ah, too soon, the pleasing scene

                     Is clouded o’er with pain;

         My gloomy fears rise dark between,                                                                 

                     And I again complain.

         Jesus, my Lord, my life, my light,

                     O come with blissful ray,

         Break radiant through the shades of night,

                     And chase my fears away.                                                          

         Then shall my soul with rapture trace

                     The wonders of thy love;

         But the full glories of thy face

                     Are only known above.

Text: Timothy Whelan, gen. ed., Nonconformist Women Writers, 8 vols. (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2011), vol. 1, p. 144; Collection of Hymns Adapted to Public Worship, no. 263 (all stanzas); Poems, 1780, vol. 1, pp. 164-65; MS, Steele Collection, STE 3/1/1 no. 92, Angus Library, Regents Park College,  Oxford.