Author of my desires

Verse 1
Author of my desires
After the things above,
To Thee my strugling soul aspires
And languishes for love:
Essence of love Thou art,
On dear-bought worms bestow’d,
O coud I find thee in my heart,
And then return to God!

Verse 2
The things invisible
Of that new world unknown
O might that final day reveal
And show Thee on thy throne
Thou God of God, and Light
Of Light, I die to see,
Thy Father’s glorious Image, bright
In all his majesty.

Verse 3
Thou hast his house prepar’d,
Where saints and angels live,
Who their exceeding great reward
In Thee alone receive:
The raptures of the place
Are in thy Presence given—
And I, when gazing on thy face
Shall want no other heaven.

Hymnal/Album: This hymn appears in the manuscript “MS Preparation for Death.” This manuscript is part of the collection of the Methodist Archive and Research Centre in The John Rylands Library, The University of Manchester (accession number MA 1977/578, Charles Wesley Notebooks Box 3). Accessed through the website of The Center for Studies in the Wesleyan Tradition, Duke Divinity School. Published in The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Collected and Arranged by G. Osborn, Vol. 7 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1870), page 414.
Publishing: Public Domain