The knowledge of Thy love

Verse 1
The knowledge of thy love
O how shall I attain?
Its excellence is far above
The reach of fallen man:
For more than threescore years
I for the grace have pin’d,
And sought with ceaseless pray’rs and tears
What I could never find.

Verse 2
Tremendous God unknown,
Hath thy severe decree
Rejected, as perdition’s son,
And sternly pass’d by me?
The saving grace with-held,
That left to Satan I,
By thy resistless will compell’d,
Might sin, despair, and die!

Verse 3
Blasphemous thoughts, away!
As hell itself abhorr’d!
Thy attributes the lie gainsay,
Thy nature and thy word:
Thy oath forbids my fears,
And comforts all that grieve,
Thy bloody sweat, thy cries and tears,
Thy death would have me live.

Verse 4
Would have me love my God,
Who lov’d the world so well:
Then sur’ly I the grace bestow’d,
The purchas’d bliss shall feel:
Thou wilt the bliss confer,
Before I hence depart;
And the abiding Comforter
Shall take up all my heart.

Hymnal/Album: Introduced by Charles Wesley in the manuscript collection "Hymns for Love." Originally titled: “An Old Man’s Prayer.” Originally published in Arminian Magazine, edited by John Wesley, Volume 4 (1781): 63–64. Published in The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Collected and Arranged by G. Osborn, Vol. 8 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1870), page 379.
Publishing: Public Domain