How I love Thee, precious Jesus (Hymn 1155)

Verse 1: How I love Thee, precious Jesus, That Thy love laid hold of me; Thou hast drawn and wooed and kissed me That a lover I may be! Verse 2: As a company of horses, Thou, O Lord, has likened me, Strong and swift, with Pharaoh's chariots, Full of natural energy. Verse 3: Just a lover with the dove's eyes Fixed on Him and Him alone; Changed are all my natural concepts, Oh, the Lord in me has grown! Verse 4: Now a lily of the valley, Standing out among the thorns, In the Lord alone I'm trusting, Of my self-strength I've been shorn. Verse 5: Make us doves that hide in Thee, Lord; Bring us to the secret place. There You find our voices sweet, Lord, And desire to see our face. Verse 6: Make us then, Lord, smoking pillars, Coming from the wilderness. By Thy death and resurrection All our natural will suppress. Verse 7: You desire a couch to rest on— We become a rest to Thee; Thou the Person in our being, Gone our personality. Verse 8: Now a palanquin You're making— Nothing natural You'll allow. For Your move and Your expression Start this work within us now! Verse 9: You supply the wood and pillars For the structure and support, Bottom gold and seat of purple For our King of royal court. Verse 10: Only this, O Lord, we offer For Thy palanquin so fine: Just our love, so pure and fitted, The interior design. Verse 11: What a sight when our Beloved Wears a crown upon His brow; Christ, the Church, are now united— Boast and glory to Him now!