The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley 169A Hymn, to be Sung at Sea
Open in the readerLord of the wide-extended main,
Whose power the winds and seas controls,
Whose hand doth earth and heaven sustain,
Whose Spirit leads believing souls:
For Thee we leave our native shore,
(We whom Thy love delights to keep,)
In other worlds Thy works explore,
And see Thy wonders in the deep.
'Tis here Thy unknown paths we trace,
Which dark to human eyes appear;
While through the mighty waves we pass,
Faith only sees that God is here.
Throughout the deep Thy footsteps shine,
We own Thy way is in the sea,
O'erawed by Majesty Divine,
And lost in Thy immensity!
Thy wisdom here we learn to adore,
Thy everlasting truth we prove,
Amazing heights of boundless power,
Unfathomable depths of love.
Infinite God, Thy greatness spann'd
These heavens, and meted out the skies;
Lo! in the hollow of Thy hand
The measured waters sink and rise!
Thee to perfection who can tell?
Earth and her sons beneath Thee lie,
Lighter than dust within Thy scale,
And less than nothing in Thine eye.
Yet in Thy Son, Divinely great,
We claim Thy providential care;
Boldly we stand before Thy seat,
Our Advocate hath placed us there.
With Him we are gone up on high,
Since He is ours, and we are His;
With Him we reign above the sky,
Yet walk upon our subject seas.
We boast of our recovered powers,
Lords are we of the lands and floods;
And earth, and heaven, and all is ours,
And we are Christ's, and Christ is God's!