GOD's Greatness. From the same. Rev. John Wesley Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
Broad Street Oxford OX1 3BG UK
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive
Taylor Institution Library St Giles' Oxford OX1 3NA UK info@eighteenthcenturypoetry.org https://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/
Oxford This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. T31323 K034809.000 Wesley, John, 1703-1791. Wesley, Charles, 1707-1788. Hymns and sacred poems: Published by John Wesley, ... and Charles Wesley, ... London printed by William Strahan; and sold by James Hutton; and at Mr. Bray's 1739 pp. 161-164. x,[6],223,[1]p.; 12⁰.

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GOD's Greatness . From the same . I. O GOD , Thou bottomless Abyss , Thee to Perfection who can know ? O Height immense ! what Words suffice Thy countless Attributes to show : Unfathomable Depths Thou art ! O plunge me in thy Mercy's Sea ; Void of true Wisdom is my Heart , With Love embrace and cover me . While Thee All-infinite I set By Faith before my ravish'd Eye , My Weakness bends beneath the Weight O'erpowr'd I sink , I faint , I die . II . Eternity thy Fountain was , Which , like Thee , no Beginning knew ; Thou wast , ere Time began his Race , Ere glow'd with Stars th' Etherial Blue : Greatness unspeakable is Thine , Greatness , whose undiminish'd Ray When short-liv'd Worlds are lost , shall shine , When Earth and Heav'n are sled away . Unchangeable , all-perfect Lord , Essential Life's unbounded Sea , What lives and moves , lives by thy Word , It lives and moves and is from Thee . III . Thy Parent Hand , thy forming Skill Firm fix'd this Universal Chain ; Else empty , barren Darkness still Had held his unmolested Reign : Whate'er in Earth , or Sea , or Sky Or shuns or meets the wandring Thought , Escapes or strikes the searching Eye , By Thee was to Perfection brought . High is thy Pow'r above all Height : Whate'er thy Will decrees is done : Thy Wisdom equal to thy Might Only to Thee , O GOD , is known . IV . Heaven's Glory is thy awful Throne , Yet Earth partakes thy gracious Sway ; Vain Man ! thy Wisdom Folly own , Lost is thy Reason's feeble Ray . What his dim Eye could never see Is plain and naked to thy Sight ; What thickest Darkness veils , to Thee Shines clearly as the Morning Light . In Light Thou dwell'st : Light that no Shade No Variation ever knew : And Heav'n and Hell stand all display'd And open to thy piercing View . V. Thou , true and only GOD , lead'st forth Th' immortal Armies of the Sky : Thou laugh'st to scorn the Gods of Earth ; Thou thunder'st , and amaz'd they fly . With down-cast Eye th' Angelick Choir Appear before thy awful Face , Trembling they strike the golden Lyre And thro' Heaven's Vault resound thy Praise . In Earth , in Heav'n , in all Thou art : The conscious Creature feels thy Nod , Whose forming Hand on ev'ry Part Imprest the Image of its GOD . VI . Thine , LORD , is Wisdom , thine alone ; Justice and Truth before Thee stand ; Yet nearer to thy sacred Throne Mercy with-holds thy lifted Hand . Each Ev'ning shews thy tender Love , Each rising Morn thy plenteous Grace ; " Thy waken'd Wrath doth slowly move , " Thy willing Mercy flies apace . To thy benign , indulgent Care , Father , this Light , this Breath we owe , And all we have , and all we are From Thee , great Source of Being , flow . VII . Parent of Good , thy bounteous Hand Incessant Blessings down distills , And all in Air , or Sea , or Land With plenteous Food and Gladness fills . All things in Thee live , move , and are , Thy Pow'r infus'd doth all sustain ; Ev'n those thy daily Favours share Who thankless spurn thy easy Reign . Thy Sun Thou bid'st his genial Ray A like on All impartial pour ; To all who hate or bless thy Sway Thou bid'st descend the fruitful Show'r . VIII . Yet while at length , who scorn'd thy Might Shall feel Thee a consuming Fire , How sweet the Joys , the Crown how bright Of those who to thy Love aspire ! All Creatures praise th' Eternal Name ! Ye Hosts that to his Courts belong , Cherubic Quires , Seraphic Flames , Awake the everlasting Song . Thrice Holy , Thine the Kingdom is , The Pow'r omnipotent is Thine , And when created Nature dies Thy never-ceasing Glories shine .