Since first Thy Word awaked my heart,

Like new life dawning o'er me,

Where'er I turn mine eyes, Thou art,

  All light and love before me.

Naught else I feel, or hear or see—

  All bonds of earth I sever—

Thee, O God, and only Thee

  I live for, now and ever.

Like him whose fetters dropt away

  When light shone o'er his prison,[1]

My spirit, touched by Mercy's ray,

  Hath from her chains arisen.

And shall a soul Thou bidst be free,

  Return to bondage?—never!

Thee, O God, and only Thee

  I live for, now and ever.

[1] "And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison…and his chains fell off from his hands."—Acts, xii. 7.