Scripture Verse

Did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the scriptures? Luke 24:32

Introduction

Words: Anne Steele, Po­ems on Sub­jects Chief­ly De­vo­tion­al 1760.

Music: Col­ches­ter (Will­iams) Aar­on Will­iams (1731–1776) (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pic­ture of Steele or Williams (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

Come, Lord, and warm each lang­uid heart,
Inspire each life­less tongue;
And let the joys of Heav’n im­part
Their in­flu­ence to our song.

Then to the shin­ing seats of bliss
The wings of faith shall soar,
And all the charms of pa­ra­dise
Our rap­tured thoughts ex­plore.

Pleasures, un­sul­lied, flour­ish there
Beyond the reach of time;
Not bloom­ing Ed­en smiled so fair,
In all her flow­ery prime.

No sun shall gild the blest abode
With his me­ri­di­an ray,
The more ra­di­ant throne of God
Diffuse eter­nal day.

Sorrow, and pain, and ev­ery care,
And dis­cord there shall cease,
And per­fect joy and love sin­cere
Adorn the reams of peace.

The soul, from sin for ev­er free,
Shall mourn its pow­er no more,
But clothed in spot­less pu­ri­ty,
Redeeming love adore.

There on a throne—how dazz­ling bright—
Th’ex­alt­ed Sav­ior shines;
And beams in­ef­fa­ble de­light
On all the hea­ven­ly minds.

There shall the fol­low­ers of the Lamb
Join in im­mor­tal songs;
And end­less hon­ors to His name
Employ their tune­ful tongues.

While sweet re­flect­ion calls to mind
The scenes of mor­tal care,
When God, their God, for ev­er kind,
Was pre­sent to their pray­er;

How will the won­ders of His grace
In their full lus­ter shine?
His wis­dom, power and faith­ful­ness
All glo­ri­ous! all di­vine!

The Sav­ior, dy­ing, ris­ing, crowned,
Shall swell the lof­ty strains,
Seraph and saint His praise re­sound,
Through all th’ethe­re­al plains.

But oh! their tran­sports, oh! their songs,
What mor­tal thought can paint?
Transcendent glo­ry awes our tongues,
And all our notes are faint.

Lord, tune our hearts to praise and love,
Our fee­ble notes in­spire;
Till in Thy bliss­ful courts above,
We join the heav’n­ly choir.