How Full of Anguish Is the Thought

Verse 1

[How full of anguish is the thought,
How it distracts and tears my heart
If God, at last, my sovereign Judge,
Should frown, and bid my soul, “Depart!”]

Verse 2

Lord, when I quit this earthly stage,
Where shall I fly but to thy breast?
For I have sought no other home
For I have learn’d no other rest.

Verse 3

I cannot live contented here,
Without some glimpses of thy face;
And heaven without thy presence there
Would be a dark and tiresome place.

Verse 4

When earthly cares engross the day
And hold my thoughts aside from thee,
The shining hours of cheerful light
Are long and tedious years to me.

Verse 5

And if no evening visit’s paid
Between my Saviour and my soul,
How dull the night! how sad the shade!
How mournfully the minutes roll!

Verse 6

This flesh of mine might learn as soon
To live, yet part with all my blood;
To breathe when vital air is gone,
Or thrive and grow without my food.

Verse 7

[Christ is my light, my life, my care,
My blessed hope, my heavenly prize,
Dearer than all my passions are,
My limbs, my bowels, or my eyes.

Verse 8

The strings that twine about my heart,
Tortures and racks may tear them off,
But they can never, never part
With their dear hold of Christ my love.]

Verse 9

[My God! and can an humble child
That loves thee with a flame so high,
Be ever from thy face exil’d
Without the pity of thine eye?

Verse 10

Impossible--For thine own hands
Have tied my heart so fast to thee;
And in thy book the promise stands,
That where thou art thy friends must be.