Thou GOD, whose Will to know

Verse 1
Thou GOD, whose Will to know
Is Comfort, Life, and Peace,
Who didst with Abraham’s Servant go,
And crown him with Success;
Me, O my Father, me
In this my Deed attend,
My Shield, and sure Director be,
And everlasting Friend.

Verse 2
Thine Overruling Hand
In all my Ways I own,
And to thy wise Decision stand,
And say, Thy Will be done:
But make thy Counsel plain,
That I may run and read,
And cry, whate’er thy Love ordain,
It is my Father’s Deed.

Verse 3
Forth in thy Name I go,
With calm Submission wait,
Thine acceptable Will to know
Determining my Fate:
On Thee I still rely,
With thy Commission sent,
Sedate to mark the Guiding Eye,
And watching each Event.

Verse 4
If first thy Wisdom prove
My Faith and patient Hope,
Thou wilt at last the Cloud remove,
And clear thy Counsel up:
Thy Light, for which I look,
On all my Ways shall shine,
And point me to the Open Book
Of Providence Divine.

Verse 5
To check my forward Will,
To mortify my Sense,
If still Thou dost thy Face conceal,
And hold me in Suspense,
The Silence speaks to me,
And bids my Soul attend
Thy Purpose manifest to see,
And calmly wait the End.

Verse 6
Wherefore on Thee alone
I cast my solemn Care,
Till Thou thy full Design make known,
And seal my faithful Prayer;
Assur’d I cannot stray,
Or cross my Lord’s Design,
For never Soul mistook his Way
Who would be led in Thine.

Hymnal/Album: This hymn appears in the manuscript “MS Deliberative Hymns.” 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 1977/552, Charles Wesley Notebooks Box 1). 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 and Oliver A. Beckerlegge, eds., The Unpublished Poetry of Charles Wesley, vol. 1 (Nashville: Kingswood Books, 1988), pages 227-28.
Publishing: Public Domain