May I but safely reach my home,
My God, my Heaven, my All.
4 There shall I bathe my weary soul
In seas of heavenly rest,
And not a wave of trouble roll
Across my peaceful breast.

475.

C. M.

WATTS.

The Humble Worship of Heaven.-Phil. i. 23.

FATHER, I long, I faint to see
The place of thy abode;

I'd leave thy earthly courts and flee
Up to thy seat, my God!

2 Here I behold thy distant face,
And 'tis a pleasing sight;

But to abide in thy embrace
Is infinite delight.

3 I'd part with all the joys of sense
To gaze upon thy throne;
Pleasure springs fresh for ever thence,
Unspeakable, unknown.

4 [There all the heavenly hosts are seen;
In shining ranks they move,
And drink immortal vigour in,
With wonder and with love.]

5 [Then at thy feet, with awful fear,
The adoring armies fall;

With joy they shrink to nothing there,
Before the eternal All.]

6 [There would I vie with all the host, In duty and in bliss;

While less than nothing I could boast,
And vanity* confess.]

7 The more thy glories strike my eyes
The humbler I shall lie;

Thus, while I sink, my joys shall rise
Unmeasurably high.

476.

C. M.

WATTS.

The Glory of Christ.-Phil. ii. 10; Ps. xiv. 1, 2, 6, 7; Heb. i. 2, 4, 9.

O! THE delights, the heavenly joys,

The glories of the place,

Where Jesus sheds the brightest beams
Of his o'erflowing grace.

2 Sweet majesty and awful love
Sit smiling on his brow,
And all the glorious ranks above
At humble distance bow.

3 [Princes to his imperial name

Bend their bright sceptres down;
Dominions, thrones, and powers rejoice
To see him wear the crown.]

4 [Bless'd angels sound his lofty praise
Through every heavenly street,
And lay their highest honours down,
Submissive at his feet.

5 Those soft, those blessed feet of his,
That once rude iron tore,

High on a throne of light they stand,
And all the saints adore.]

Isaiah xl. 17.

6 [His head, the dear majestic head,
That cruel thorns did wound,
See what immortal glories shine,
And circle it around.]

7 This is the Man, the exalted Man,
Whom we, unseen, adore;

But when our eyes behold his face,
Our hearts shall love him more.

8 [Lord, how our souls are all on fire
To see thy bless'd abode;

Our tongues rejoice in tunes of praise
To our incarnate God.

9 And while our faith enjoys this sight,
We long to leave our clay;
And wish thy fiery chariots, Lord,
To fetch our souls away.]

477.

C. M.

WATTS.

The Example of Christ and his Saints.-Rev. xxi. 7.

GIVE me the wings of faith to rise
Within the veil, and see

The saints above, how great their joys,
How bright their glories be.

2 Once they were mourning here below,
And wet their couch with tears;
They wrestled hard, as we do now,
With sins, and doubts, and fears.

3 I ask them whence their victory came, They, with united breath,

Ascribe their conquest to the Lamb,
Their triumph to his death.

4 They mark'd the footsteps that he trod
(His zeal inspired their breast);
And, following their incarnate God,
Possess the promised rest.

5 Our glorious Leader claims our praise,
For his own pattern given;

While the long cloud of witnesses Shows the same path to heaven. 478.

C. M.

WATTS.

Sight through a Glass, and Face to Face.-1 Cor. xiii. 12.

I LOVE the windows of thy grace,
Through which my Lord is seen,
And long to meet my Saviour's face,
Without a glass between.

2 O that the happy hour was come,
To change my faith to sight!
I shall behold my Lord at home,
In a diviner light.

3 Haste, my Beloved, and remove
These interposing days;

Then shall my passions all be love,
And all my powers be praise.

479.

C. M.

WATTS.

The Meditation of Heaven; or, the Joys of Faith.—Isa. xxxiii. 17.

My thoughts surmount these lower skies,
And look within the veil:

There springs of endless pleasure rise,
The waters never fail.

2 There I behold, with sweet delight,
The blessed Three-in-One;

And strong affections fix my sight
On God's incarnate Son.

3 His promise stands for ever firm;
His grace shall ne'er depart;
He binds my name upon his arm,
And seals it on his heart.

4 Light are the pains that nature brings:
How short our sorrows are!
When with eternal, future things,
The present we compare.

5 I would not be a stranger still
To that celestial place,

Where I for ever hope to dwell,
Near my Redeemer's face.

480.

L. M.

WATTS.

A Sight of God mortifies us to the World.-Ps. lxxiii. 25.

[UP to the fields where angels lie,

And living waters gently roll,

Fain would my thoughts leap out and fly,
But sin hangs heavy on my soul.

2 Thy wondrous blood, dear dying Christ,
Can make this world of guilt remove;
And thou canst bear me where thou flyest,
On thy kind wings, celestial Dove!]

and see

3 [O might I once mount up
The glories of the eternal skies,

What little things these worlds would be;
How despicable to my eyes!]

4 Had I a glance of thee, my God, Kingdoms and men would vanish soon;