What depths of wisdom and of grace

Verse 1
What depths of wisdom and of grace
Do we in Jesus find,
Reflecting on his wond’rous ways,
And dealings with mankind!
He marks our unavailing pain,
While far from him we rove,
And carries on the secret plan
Of his mysterious love.

Verse 2
Left to myself, in paths of vice
I scarce began to run,
When Jesus did his stray surprize,
And claim’d me for his own:
To save my soul, he came unsought,
True liberty to give,
And in the arms of mercy caught
His thoughtless fugitive.

Verse 3
Saviour, with thankful awe I see
Thy mercy’s strange design,
Which let me swerve awhile from thee,
To make me always thine:
A servant and a son restor’d
Thou kindly dost receive;
And happy with my heavenly Lord
I shall forever live.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled “He therefore departed for a season, that thou shouldst receive him for ever.”—[Philem.] 15. Introduced in Charles Wesley, Short Hymns on Select Passages of the Holy Scriptures, Vol. 2 (Bristol: Farley, 1762). Published in The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Collected and Arranged by G. Osborn, Vol. 13 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1872), page 116.
Publishing: Public Domain