Hymn 319. Humble Worship

         Great King of kings, eternal God,

         Shall mortal creatures dare to raise

         Their songs to thy supreme abode,

         And join with angels in thy praise?

         The brightest Seraph veils his face;                                                      

         And low before thy dazling throne,

         With prostrate homage all confess

         Thou art the infinite unknown.

         Man, ah how far remov’d below,

         Wrapt in the shades of gloomy night:                                                              

         His brightest day can only show

         A few faint streaks of distant light.

         But see, the bright, the morning star!

         His beams shall chase the shades away;

         His beams, resplendent from afar,                                                                   

         Sweet promise of immortal day!

         To him, our longing eyes we raise,

         Our guide to thee, the great unknown,

         Through him, O may our humble praise

         Accepted rise before thy throne.

Text: Timothy Whelan, gen. ed., Nonconformist Women Writers, 8 vols. (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2011), vol. 1, p. 58; Collection of Hymns Adapted to Public Worship, no. 319 (all stanzas); Poems, 1780, vol. 1, pp. 37-38; MS, Steele Collection, STE 3/1/1 no. 15, Angus Library, Regents Park College,  Oxford.