The words
Stanza 1. How tedious and tasteless the hours,When JESUS no longer I see;Sweet prospects, sweet birds, and sweet flow’rs,Have lost all their sweetness with me:The mid–summer sun shines but dim,The fields strive in vain to look gay;But when I am happy in Him,December’s as pleasant as May.
Stanza 2. His name yields the richest perfume,And sweeter than music his voice;His presence disperses my gloom,And makes all within me rejoice:I should, were he always thus nigh,Have nothing to wish or to fear;No mortal so happy as I,My summer would last all the year.
Stanza 3. Content with beholding his face,My all to his pleasure resigned;No changes of season or place,Would make any change in my mind:While blessed with a sense of his love,A palace a toy would appear;And prisons would palaces prove,If JESUS would dwell with me there.
Stanza 4. Dear LORD, if indeed I am thine,If thou art my sun and my song;Say, why do I languish and pine,And why are my winters so long?O drive these dark clouds from my sky,Thy soul–cheering presence restore;Or take me unto thee on high,Where winter and clouds are no more.
Olney Hymns (1779), Book 1, Hymn 46. John Newton. Public domain. CCEL transcription with modernized spelling. www.praylock.com/olney-hymns/1-46
