While midnight shades the earth o'erspread

Verse 1
While midnight shades the earth o’erspread,
And veil the bosom of the deep, (Gen. 1:2)
Nature reclines her weary head,
And care respires and sorrows sleep:
My soul still aims at nobler rest,
Aspiring to her Saviour’s breast. (Matt. 11:28-29, John 13:23, Heb. 4:9-11)

Verse 2
Aid me, ye hov’ring spirits near,
Angels and ministers of grace;
Who ever, while you guard us here, (Ps. 34:7, Ps. 91:11, Heb. 1:14)
Behold your heav’nly Father’s face! (Matt. 18:10)
Gently my raptur’d soul convey (Luke 16:22)
To regions of eternal day. (Rev. 22:5)

Verse 3
Fain would I leave this earth below, (II Cor. 5:8, Phil. 1:23)
Of pain and sin the dark abode; (Rom. 8:22-23)
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: (Matt. 25:6, Rev. 19:7)
Come quickly, Lord! Thy own receive, (John 14:3, Rev. 22:20)
Now let me see thy face, and live. (Ex. 33:20, I Cor. 13:12, Rev. 22:4)

Verse 5
Absent from thee, my exil’d soul
Deep in a fleshly dungeon groans; (II Cor. 5:4-8)
Around me clouds of darkness roll, (Ps. 97:2)
And lab’ring silence speaks my moans:
Come quickly, Lord! Thy face display, (Rev. 22:20)
And look my midnight into day. (Rev. 22:4-5)

Verse 6
Error[1] and sin, and death are o’er (Isa. 25:8, I Cor. 15:54-55, Rev. 21:4)
If thou reverse the creature’s doom; (Rom. 8:19-21)
Sad, Rachel weeps her loss no more, (Jer. 31:15-17, Matt. 2:18)
If thou the God, the Saviour come: (Tit. 2:13)
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.