There is none holy as the Lord: for there is none beside Thee: neither is there any rock like our God.
1 Samuel 2:2
Words: Charles Wesley, Short Hymns on Select Passages of the Holy Scriptures (Bristol, England: E. Farley, 1762), volume 1, numbers 463 & 464.
Music: Winchester New Musikalisches Handbuch (Hamburg, Germany: 1690). Harmony by William H. Monk, 1847, alt. (🔊 pdf nwc).
Mr. J[ohn] Wesley was once holding a lovefeast at the Foundery when an elderly man rose to speak.
He stated that he had lately been favoured with a remarkable work of grace in his soul, and that he had become as pure and holy as God himself.
On resuming his seat, Mr. W. rose and said, God has given our brother a new heart, but not a new head.
Mr. Charles Wesley, on hearing of this incident, called for pen and ink, and wrote this hymn.
Ward, p. 109
Holy as Thou, O Lord, is none;
Thy holiness is all Thine own;
A drop of that unbounded sea
Is ours—a drop derived from Thee.
And when Thy purity we share,
Thine only glory we declare;
And, humbled into nothing, own,
Holy and pure is God alone.
Sole, self-existing God and Lord,
By all Thy heav’nly hosts adored,
Let all on earth bow down to Thee,
And own Thy peerless majesty.
Thy power unparalleled confess,
Established on the Rock of peace;
The Rock that never shall remove,
The Rock of pure, almighty, love.