The first line is faulty: the accent of “infinite” is on the first syllable: Watts placed it on the second. The second line conveys no clear idea: how is clay “figured”? The third and fourth lines are bald and ordinary, lacking in poetic grace. See how deftly Wesley took Watts’ material and gave it grace and dignity:
“His sovereign power, without our aid,
Made us of clay and formed us men;
And when like wand’ring sheep we strayed,
He brought us to his fold again.”
Transforming Watts’ fourth stanza in like manner, he added a majestic fifth stanza of his own:
“Wide as the world is thy command,
Vast as eternity thy love;
Firm as a rock thy truth shall stand
When rolling years shall cease to move,”