When’er, my God, thy Wondrous Love

When’er, my God, thy wondrous Love

My ravish’d heart inspires,

And all the Glorious Realms above

Enlarge my vast desires,

The World’s a dream, I then despise,

Its riches, useless toys;

On wings of Faith I mount the Skies,

And grasp Celestial joys.

Th’ amazing pow’r of Grace Divine,

In Heavn’ly strains I sing,

Exult in joy to call thee mine,

My Saviour, God, and King.

But soon, alas, the Glories fade,

Too soon my joys decay,

The clouds, the storms of Sin o’ershade

My Heaven-illumin’d Day.

Sorrows and guilt o’erwhelm my Soul

With aggravated roar,

Surge after surge, so billows roll,

And thunder on the shore.

O’er Sin’s vast desarts now I stray,

All helpless and forlorn,

Till Christ my star with friendly ray,

Proclaim th’ approaching Morn.

The storms and tempest now recede,

And guilt’s dark glooms decay;

The rising Sun from Night’s deep shade

Thus brings th’ auspicious Day.

When shall the time, dear Jesus, come,

That free from Sin’s alarms,

Shall call my weary Spirit home,

And bear me to thy Arms?

Text: Steele Collection, 3/1/1, no. 57, Angus Library, Regent's Park College, Oxford; this hymn first published in Nonconformist Women Writers, 1720-1840, vol. 2 (ed. Julia B. Griffin), pp. 106-07.