Stones Before The Ocean | A Worship Poetry Anthology by Various - Edited by Daniel Paul Gilbert - HTML preview

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Immortal Love, Forever Full - John Greenleaf Whittier

 

Immortal love, forever full,

Forever flowing free,

Forever shared, forever whole,

A never ebbing sea!

 

Our outward lips confess the name

All other names above;

Love only knoweth whence it came,

And comprehendeth love.

 

Blow, winds of God, awake and blow

The mists of earth away:

Shine out, O Light divine, and show

How wide and far we stray.

 

We may not climb the heavenly steeps

To bring the Lord Christ down;

In vain we search the lowest deeps,

For Him no depths can drown.

 

But warm, sweet, tender, even yet,

A present help is He;

And faith still has its Olivet,

And love its Galilee.

 

The healing of His seamless dress

Is by our beds of pain;

We touch Him in life’s throng and press,

And we are whole again.

 

Through Him the first fond prayers are said

Our lips of childhood frame,

The last low whispers of our dead

Are burdened with His Name.

 

O Lord and Master of us all,

Whate’er our name or sign,

We own Thy sway, we hear Thy call,

We test our lives by Thine.

 

The letter fails, the systems fall,

And every symbol wanes;

The Spirit over brooding all,

Eternal Love remains