Who came to make His Father known

Verse 1
Who came to make his Father known,
For thirty years Himself conceal’d,
Nor then his ministry begun
When first to public view reveal’d:
He teaches by his long retreat,
His silence bids our hearts be still,
His toil instructs us to submit,
And serve in man’s his Father’s will.

Verse 2
O what an endless treasure lies,
Jesus, in thy obscurity!
What springs of heavenly blessings rise
For those whose life is hid with Thee!
Who small in their own eyes and poor
Thy meek humility approve,
And rest in thy retreat secure,
And silence like their Saviour love!

Verse 3
Self-love would imitate thy zeal,
And pride thy shining actions do,
But little ones delight to dwell
With Thee, retir’d from public view:
O might my lot be cast with these
By man neglected and unknown,
I only want my Lord to please,
To live and die for God alone.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘Jesus began to be about thirty years of age.’—[Luke 3,] v. 23.” This hymn appears in the 1766 manuscript “MS Luke.” 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 1977/575, Charles Wesley Notebooks Box 3). Accessed through the website of The Center for Studies in the Wesleyan Tradition, Duke Divinity School. Published in S.T. Kimbrough Jr. and Oliver A. Beckerlegge, eds., The Unpublished Poetry of Charles Wesley, vol. 2 (Nashville: Kingswood Books, 1990), page 88. Verse 1 was published in The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Collected and Arranged by G. Osborn, Vol. 11 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1871), page 129.
Publishing: Public Domain