Hymn 326. Intreating the Presence of Christ in his Churches

 Hag. 2. 7. 

         Come, thou desire of all thy saints,

                     Our humble strains attend,

         While with our praises and complaints,

                     Low at thy feet we bend.

         When we thy wonderous glories hear,                                     

                     And all thy sufferings trace,

         What sweetly awful scenes appear!

                     What rich unbounded grace!

         How should our songs, like those above,

                     With warm devotion rise!                                                          

         How should our souls, on wings of love,

                     Mount upward to the skies!

         But ah!  the song, how cold it flows!

                     How languid our desire!

         How faint the sacred passion glows,                                                                

                     ’Till thou the heart inspire!

         Come Lord, thy love alone can raise

                     In us the heavenly flame;

         Then shall our lips resound thy praise,

                     Our hearts adore thy name.                                                                   

         Dear Saviour, let thy glory shine,

                     And fill thy dwellings here,

         ’Till life, and love, and joy divine,

                     A Heaven on earth appear.

         Then shall our hearts enraptur’d say,                                                              

                     Come, great Redeemer, come,

         And bring the bright, the glorious day,

                     That calls thy children home.

Text: Timothy Whelan, gen. ed., Nonconformist Women Writers, 8 vols. (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2011), vol. 1, pp. 84-85; Collection of Hymns Adapted to Public Worship, no. 326 (all stanzas); Poems, 1780, vol. 1, pp. 76-78; MS, Steele Collection, STE 3/1/1 no. 39, Angus Library, Regents Park College,  Oxford.