O Thou In All Thy Might So Far
O Thou in All Thy Might So Far
O Thou in all Thy might so far,
In all Thy love so near,
Beyond the range of sun and star,
And yet beside us here.
What heart can comprehend Thy name,
Or searching find Thee out,
Who art within, a quickening flame,
A presence round about?
Yet though I know Thee but in part,
I ask not, Lord, for more;
Enough for me to know Thou art,
To love Thee, and adore.
And dearer than all things I know
Is childlike faith to me,
That makes the darkest way I go
An open path to Thee.
FREDERICK HOSMER was a Unitarian minister, a graduate of Harvard Divinity School, and a student of hymns. In a time when many were intellectualizing Christianity, he maintained a personal and emotional faith, expressing his personal feelings for the almighty God. This song even demonstrates an intellectual modesty (“I know Thee but in part”), uncommon in an age when scholars were picking and probing at the traditional faith, rationally dismantling many deeply cherished doctrines, and claiming to have all the answers.
Still, as a Unitarian, Hosmer did not write much about Jesus. We can applaud Hosmer’s call to “childlike faith.” Yet we can also recognize that his faith was blinder than it needed to be. God can be known fully in the person of Jesus Christ. He is the One who leads us on the “open path” to the Father.
Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father!”
John 14:9
From the book
