O For a Closer Walk With God

Above:  Snow-Covered Trail, Seward, Alaska, 1916

Image Source = Library of Congress

Reproduction Number = LC-DIG-ppmsc-01960

Text (1769; published in 1772) by William Cowper (1731-1800)

Hymn Source #1  = The Hymnal (1941), Evangelical and Reformed Church

Hymn Source #2 = The Hymnal 1940 Companion (1949), The Episcopal Church

The original text was six stanzas long.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

O for a closer walk with God,

A calm and heavenly frame,

A light to shine upon the road

That leads me to the Lamb.

+++++

Where is the blessedness I knew,

When first I saw the Lord?

Where is the soul-refreshing view

Of Jesus, and his word?

+++++

What peaceful hours I then enjoyed!

How sweet their memory still!

But they have left an aching void

The world can never fill.

+++++

Return, O Holy Dove, return,

Sweet messenger of rest;

I hate the sins that made Thee mourn,

And drove Thee from my breast.

+++++

The dearest idol I have known,

Whate’er that idol be,

Help me to tear it from Thy throne,

And worship only Thee.

+++++

So shall my walk be close with God,

Calm and serene my frame;

So purer light shall mark the road

That leads me to the Lamb.