15. The Eternal Spirit

Fountain of Love! Thyself true God!
Who through eternal days
From Father and from Son hast flowed
In uncreated ways.

O Majesty unspeakable!
O Person all Divine!
How in the Threefold Majesty
Doth Thy Procession shine!

Fixed in the Godhead^s awful light
Thy fiery Breath doth move!
Thou art a wonder by Thyself
To worship and to love!

Proceeding, yet of equal age
With those whose love Thou art;
Proceeding, yet distinct from those
From whom Thou secm'st to part:

An undivided Nature shared
With Father and with Son;
A Person by Thyself; with Them
Thy simple essence One:

Bond art Thou of the other Twain!
Omnipotent and free!
The consummating Love of God!
The limit of the Three!

Thou limitest infinity,
Thyself all infinite;
The Godhead lives, and loves, and rests,
In Thine eternal light.

I dread Thee, Unbegotten Love!
True God! sole Fount of Grace!
And now before Tiiy Blessed throne
My sinful self abase.

Ocean, wide-flowing Ocean, Thou,
Of uncreated Love;
I tremble as within my soul
I feel Thy waters move.

Thou art a sea without a shore;
Awful, immense Thou art;
A sea which can contract itself
Within my narrow heart.

And yet Thou art a haven too
Out on the shoreless sea,
A harbor that can hold full well
Shipwrecked Humanity.

Thou art an unborn Breath outbreathed
On angels and on men,
Subduing all things to Thyself,
We know not how or when.

Thou art a God of fire, that doth
Create while He consumes!
A God of light, whose rays on earth
Darken where He illumes!

All things, dread Spirit! to Thy praise
Thy Presence doth transmute;
Evil itself Thy glory bears,
Its one abiding fruit!

O Light! O Love! O very God!
I dare no longer gaze
Upon Thy wondrous attributes
And their mysterious ways.

O Spirit, beautiful and dread!
My heart is fit to break
With Love of all Thy tenderness
For us poor sinners' sake.

The love of Jesus I adore;
My comfort this shall be,
That, when I serve my dearest Lord,
That service worships Thee I