Verse 1
While midnight shades the earth o’erspread,
And veil the bosom of the deep,
Nature reclines her weary head,
And care respires and sorrows sleep:
My soul still aims at nobler rest,
Aspiring to her Saviour’s breast.

Verse 2
Aid me, ye hov’ring spirits near,
Angels and ministers of grace;
Who ever, while you guard us here,
Behold your heav’nly Father’s face!
Gently my raptur’d soul convey
To regions of eternal day.

Verse 3
Fain would I leave this earth below,
Of pain and sin the dark abode;
Where shadowy joy, or solid woe
Allures, or tears me from my God:
Doubtful and insecure of bliss,
Since death[1] alone confirms me his.

Verse 4
Till then, to sorrow born I sigh,
And gasp, and languish after home;
Upward I send my streaming eye,
Expecting till the Bridegroom come:
Come quickly, Lord! Thy own receive,
Now let me see thy face, and live.

Verse 5
Absent from thee, my exil’d soul
Deep in a fleshly dungeon groans;
Around me clouds of darkness roll,
And lab’ring silence speaks my moans:
Come quickly, Lord! Thy face display,
And look my midnight into day.

Verse 6
Error[1] and sin, and death are o’er
If thou reverse the creature’s doom;
Sad, Rachel weeps her loss no more,
If thou the God, the Saviour come:
Of thee possest, in thee we prove
The light, the life, the heav’n of love.

[1] Wesley changed “death” to “faith” in a 1780 edition.
[2] Wesley changed “Error” to “Sorrow” in a 1780 edition.