Thee Will I Love, My Strength, My Tower

Thee will I love, my Strength, my Tower; Thee will I love, my Hope, my Joy; Thee will I love with all my power, With ardor time shall ne'er destroy. Thee will I love, O Light Divine, So long as life is mine. 2. Thee will I love, my Life, my Savior, Who art my best and truest Friend; Thee will I love and praise forever, For never shall Thy kindness end; Thee will I love with all my heart, Thou my Redeemer art. 3. Alas! that I so late have known Thee, Who art the Fairest and the Best; Nor sooner for my Lord could own Thee, Our highest Good, our only Rest! Now bitter shame and grief I prove O'er this my tardy love. 4. I wandered long in willing blindness, I sought Thee, but I found Thee not, For still I shunned Thy beams of kindness; The creature-light filled all my thought. And if at last I see Thee now, 'Twas Thou to me didst bow!

5. I thank Thee, Jesus, Sun from heaven, Whose radiance hath bro't light to me; I thank Thee, who hast richly given All that could make me glad and free; I thank Thee that my soul is healed By what Thy lips revealed. 6. Oh, keep me watchful, then, and humble And suffer me no more to stray; Uphold me when my feet would stumble, Nor let me loiter by the way. Fill all my nature with Thy light, O Radiance strong and bright! 7. Oh, teach me, Lord, to love Thee truly With soul and body, head and heart, And grant me grace that I may duly Practice fore'er love's sacred art. Grant that my every thought may be Directed e'er to Thee. 8. Thee will I love, my Crown of gladness; Thee will I love, my God and Lord, Amid the darkest depths of sadness, Not for the hope of high reward For Thine own sake, O Light Divine, So long as life is mine.