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 fixed regard, great GOD! to Thee.

3 Then every tempting form of sin,
Shamed in Thy presence, disappears;
And all the glowing raptured soul
The likeness it contemplates, wears.

4 O ever conscious to my heart!
Witness to its supreme desire:
Behold it presseth on to Thee,
For it hath caught the heavenly fire.

5 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!