Retir’d into his secret place (Hosea 5:15)
My absent Saviour I bemoan; (Ps. 13:1)
Forc’d by my sin, thou hid’st thy face: (Hosea 5:15, Isa. 59:2)
My sin the mournful cause I own: (Hosea 5:15)
From saints if thou withdraw thy light,
Their faith to try, their grace t’ improve,
Yet sin alone brought back my night,
And robb’d me of thy pard’ning love.
Retired into His secret place
Hymnal/Album: Originally titled “I will go, and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face.”—[Hosea] v. 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. 10 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1870), page 76.
Publishing: Public Domain