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

2 Yet faith can pierce the awful gloom,
The great Invisible can see;
And with its tremblings mingle joy,
In fix'd regard, great God! to thee.

3 Then every tempting form of sin,
Aw'd by thy presence, disappears;
And all the glowing raptur'd soul
The likeness, it contemplates, wears.

4 O ever conscious to my heart!
Witness to its supreme desire;
Behold it presses on to thee,
For it hath caught the heav'nly fire.

5 This one petition would it urge:
To bear thee ever in my sight!
In life, in death, in worlds unknown,
Its only portion and delight.