Retirement and Meditation

Return, my roving heart, return,

And life's vain shadows chase no more;

Seek out some solitude to mourn,

And thy forsaken God implore.

O thou great God! whose piercing eye

Distinctly marks each deep retreat,

In these sequestered hours draw nigh,

And let me here thy presence meet.

Through all the windings of my heart,

My search let heavenly wisdom guide;

And still its beams unerring dart,

Till all be known and purified.

Then let the visits of thy love

My inmost soul be made to share,

Till every grace combine to prove

That God has fixed his dwelling there.