Thee will I love, my Strength, my Tower

Thee will I love, my Strength, my Tower,
Thee will I love, my Hope, my Joy,
Thee in Thy works, with all my power,
With ardour Time shall n'er destroy.
Thee will I love, O Light Divine,
So long as life is mine!

Alas! that I so late have known Thee,
Who art the Fairest and the Best;
Nor sooner for my Lord could own Thee,
Our highest Good, our only Rest!
Now bitter shame and grief I prove
O'er this my tardy love.

I wander'd long in willing blindness,
I sought Thee, but I found Thee not,
For still I shunn'd Thy beams of kindness,
The creature light fill'd all my thought;
And if at last I see Thee now,
'T was Thou to me didst bow!

I thank Thee, then, true Sun of heaven,
Whose shining hath brought light to me;
I thank Thee, who hast richly given
All that could make us glad and free;
I thank Thee that my soul is heal'd
By what Thy lips reveal'd.

Oh keep me watchful, then, and humble,
And suffer me no more to stray,
Uphold me when my feet would stumble,
Nor let me loiter by the way;
Fill all my nature with Thy light,
O Radiance strong and bright!

Thee will I love, my Crown of gladness,
Thee will I love, my God and Lord,
Amid the darkest depths of sadness,
Not for the hope of high reward,
For Thine own sake, O Light Divine,
So long as life is mine.

The Chorale Book for England, 1863