Hast thou heard Him, seen Him, known Him

1
Hast thou heard Him, seen Him, known Him?
  Is not thine a captured heart?
Chief among ten thousand own Him;
  Joyful choose the better part.
  Captivated by His beauty,
Worthy tribute haste to bring;
Let His peerless worth constrain thee,
  Crown Him now unrivaled King.
2
Idols once they won thee, charmed thee,
  Lovely things of time and sense;
Gilded thus does sin disarm thee,
  Honeyed lest thou turn thee thence.
3
What has stripped the seeming beauty
  From the idols of the earth?
Not a sense of right or duty,
  But the sight of peerless worth.
4
Not the crushing of those idols,
  With its bitter void and smart;
But the beaming of His beauty,
  The unveiling of His heart.
5
Who extinguishes their taper
  Till they hail the rising sun?
Who discards the garb of winter
  Till the summer has begun?
6
’Tis that look that melted Peter,
  ’Tis that face that Stephen saw,
’Tis that heart that wept with Mary,
  Can alone from idols draw:
7
Draw and win and fill completely,
  Till the cup o’erflow the brim;
What have we to do with idols
  Who have companied with Him?
25
George Goodwin

Riverside, CA, United States

"Draw and win and fill completely,

Till the cup o’erflow the brim"

- Lord Draw me (us)

- Lord win me (us)

- Lord fill me (us) completely

Till the cup o’erflow the brim


Nelson Liu

Irvine, CA, United States

Lord, we are captivated by Your beauty!


Nathan Ofsthun

Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States

Brother Leo, "Honeyed lest thou turn thee thence" goes along with the phrase "Gilded thus does sin disarm thee." These idols of the world, these things that distract us from the Lord do so because they are gilded or "honeyed." The honey and the gilding here indicate that underneath is something base, something unpleasant, something grotesque, so there is the need to cover up the satanic nature of idols with something that appears pleasant. But as the hymn progresses, we see that we see something far, far superior. We see the Lord Himself! The beaming of His beauty, the unveiling of His heart is enough to draw and win and fill us completely!


Leo Newell

Australia

'Honeyed lest thou turn thee thence?' Can somebody help me translate this into modern language?


pcvh

Sinacaban, Mis.occ, Philippines

Anything that replaces God is an idol. We can't deny the fact that there are still so many idols within us. So what do I/we do with idols? Just 3 points to kill the idols: LOOK (just like Peter's experience), FACE (like Stephen's experience) and HEART (like Mary's experience). How we need to SEE HIM, how we need to HEAR HIM, and how we need to KNOW HIM. So PRAISE GOD, I'm also one among ten thousands CAPTIVATED by the Lord's beauty.

The issue of experiencing God's appearing is always consecration. When we meet God, we spontaneously say, "Lord, everything that is mine is for You. I let You live in every situation." We often give messages on consecration. However, our messages cannot produce consecration. Consecration is not produced from our speaking. Consecration is brought forth after a person has met God. We can give people a mental understanding of consecration and teach them the significance of consecration. But no amount of listening to messages can cause a person to consecrate himself. A genuine and meaningful consecration is brought forth only after a person experiences God's appearing. Only "the sight of peerless worth" (Hymns, #437, stanza 3) can cause us to offer ourselves to the Lord.

Only the face of tears that Peter saw, only the face of glory into which Stephen looked, and only the heart that wept with Mary can keep us away from the idols, the attractions, of this world. The Bible tells us that Jesus wept with Mary (John 11:35). Have you ever heard that God weeps? Many say that Jesus came to express God, but they mainly refer to the miracles He did, not to the tears that He shed.

Piano Hymns