Eternal and immortal King!

Thy peerless splendors none can bear;

But darkness veils seraphic eyes,

When God with all his glory’s there.

Yet faith can pierce the awful gloom,

The great Invisible can see;

And with its tremblings mingle joy,

In fixed regard, great GOD! to Thee.

Then every tempting form of sin,

Shamed in Thy presence, disappears;

And all the glowing raptured soul

The likeness it contemplates, wears.

O ever conscious to my heart!

Witness to its supreme desire:

Behold it presseth on to Thee,

For it hath caught the heavenly fire.

This one petition would it urge—

To bear Thee ever in its sight;

In life, in death, in worlds unknown,

Its only portion and delight!