Lord, Thou hast searched
and seen me through,
Thine eye commands with
piercing view
My rising and my resting
hours,
My heart and flesh with
all their powers.My
thoughts, before they
are my own,
Are to my God distinctly
known;
He knows the words I
mean to speak
Ere from my opening lips
they break.
Within Thy circling
power I stand;
On every side I find Thy
hand;
Awake, asleep, at home,
abroad,
I am surrounded still
with God.
Amazing knowledge,
vast and great!
What large extent! what
lofty height!
My soul, with all the
powers I boast,
Is in the boundless
prospect lost.
Could I so false, so
faithless prove,
To quit Thy service and
Thy love,
Where, Lord, could I Thy
presence shun,
Or from Thy dreadful
glory run?
If up to Heav’n I
take my flight,
’Tis there Thou dwell’st
enthroned in light
Or dive to hell, there
vengeance reigns,
And Satan groans beneath
Thy chains.
If, mounted on a
morning ray,
I fly beyond the western
sea,
Thy swifter hand would
first arrive,
And there arrest Thy
fugitive.
Or should I try to
shun Thy sight
Beneath the spreading
veil of night,
One glance of Thine, one
piercing ray,
Would kindle darkness
into day.
The veil of night is
no disguise,
No screen from Thy
all-searching eyes;
Thy hand can seize Thy
foes as soon
Through midnight shades
as blazing noon.
Midnight and noon in
this agree,
Great God, they’re both
alike to Thee;
Not death can hide what
God will spy,
And hell lies naked to
His eye.
O may these thoughts
possess my breast,
Where’er I rove,
where’er I rest!
Nor let my weaker
passions dare
Consent to sin, for God
is there.
