Eternal and im­mor­tal King,
Thy peer­less splen­dors none can bear;
But dark­ness veils se­ra­phic eyes,
When God with all His lus­ter’s there.

Yet faith can pierce the aw­ful gloom,
The great In­vi­si­ble can see;
And with its trem­blings mingle joy
In fixed re­gards, 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 it wears,

O ev­er con­scious to my heart,
Witness to its su­preme desire,
Behold, it press­eth on to Thee,
For it hath caught the heav’n­ly 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.