Reginald Heber
(1783-1826)
Oh God! Who gav'st Thy servant grace,
Amid the storms of life distressed,
To look on Thine incarnate face,
And lean on Thy protecting breast –
To see the light that dimly shone,
Eclipsed for us in sorrow pale:
Pure image of the Eternal One,
Through shadows of Thy mortal veil!
Be ours, O King of Mercy! Still
To feel Thy presence from above,
And in Thy word, and in Thy will
To hear Thy voice and know Thy love;
And when the toils of life are done,
And nature waits Thy dread decree,
To find our rest beneath Thy throne,
And look, in humble hope, to Thee.
(Special thanks to our friend Pastor Bruce Wasson for his special gift of
The Poetical Works of Reginald Heber, Late Lord Bishop of Calcutta
by M. A. DeWolfe Howe [1857], from which this poem was taken.)