Library · Hymns and Spiritual Songs
Book 1 · Hymns 101–110
Hymns and Spiritual Songs · Isaac Watts
Hymn 1:101. Joy in heaven for a repenting sinner, Luke 15. 7-10.
1 Who can describe the joys that rise
Thro' all the courts of Paradise
To see a prodigal return,
To see an heir of glory born?
2 With joy the Father doth approve
The fruit of his eternal love;
The Son with joy looks down and sees
The purchase of his agonies.
3 The Spirit takes delight to view
The holy soul he form'd anew;
And saints and angels join to sing
The growing empire of their King.
Hymn 1:102. The beatitudes, Matt. 5. 3-12.
1 [Bless'd are the humble souls that see
Their emptiness and poverty;
Treasures of grace to them are given,
And crowns of joy laid up in heaven.]
2 [Bless'd are the men of broken heart,
Who mourn for sin with inward smart;
The blood of Christ divinely flows,
A healing balm for all their woes.]
3 [Bless'd are the meek, who stand afar
From rage and passion, noise and war;
God will secure their happy state,
And plead their cause against the great.]
4 [Bless'd are the souls that thirst for grace,
Hunger and long for righteousness,
They shall be well supply'd and fed,
With living streams and living bread.]
5 [Bless'd are the men whose bowels move
And melt with sympathy and love;
From Christ the Lord shall they obtain
Like sympathy and love again.]
6 [Bless'd are the pure, whose hearts are clean
From the defiling powers of sin,
With endless pleasure they shall see
A God of spotless purity.]
7 [Bless'd are the men of peaceful life
Who quench the coals of growing strife,
They shall be call'd the heirs of bliss,
The sons of God, the God of peace.]
8 [Bless'd are the sufferers who partake
Of pain and shame for Jesus' sake;
Their souls shall triumph in the Lord,
Glory and joy are their reward.]
Hymn 1:103. Not ashamed of the gospel, C Tim. 1. 12.
1 I'm not asham'd to own my Lord,
Or to defend his cause,
Maintain the honour of his word,
The glory of his cross.
2 Jesus, my God, I know his Name,
His Name is all my trust,
Nor will he put my soul to shame,
Nor let my hope be lost.
3 Firm as his throne his promise stands,
And he can well secure
What I've committed to his hands
Till the decisive hour.
4 Then will he own my worthless name
Before his Father's face,
And in the new Jerusalem
Appoint my soul a place.
Hymn 1:104. A state of nature and of grace, 1 Cor. 6. 10 11.
1 Not the malicious or profane,
The wanton or the proud,
Nor thieves, nor slanderers shall obtain
The kingdom of our God.
2 Surprising grace! and such were we
By nature and by sin,
Heirs of immortal misery,
Unholy and unclean.
3 But we are wash'd in Jesus' blood,
We're pardon'd thro' his Name;
And the good Spirit of our God
Has sanctify'd our frame.
4 O for a persevering power
To keep thy just commands!
We would defile our hearts no more,
No more pollute our hands.
Hymn 1:105. Heaven invisible and holy, 1 Cor. 2. 9 10. Rev. 21. 27.
1 Nor eye has seen, nor ear has heard,
Nor sense nor reason known
What joys the Father hath prepar'd
For those that love the Son.
2 But the good Spirit of the Lord
Reveals a heaven to come:
The beams of glory in his word
Allure and guide us home.
3 Pure are the joys above the sky,
And all the region peace;
No wanton lips, nor envious eye
Can see or taste the bliss.
4 Those holy gates for ever bar
Pollution, sin, and shame;
None shall obtain admittance there
But followers of the Lamb.
5 He keeps the Father's book of life,
There all their names are found;
The hypocrite in vain shall strive
To tread the heavenly ground.
Hymn 1:106. Dead to sin by the cross of Christ, Rom. 6. 1 2 6.
1 Shall we go on to sin
Because thy grace abounds,
Or crucify the Lord again,
And open all his wounds?
2 Forbid it, mighty God,
Nor let it e'er be said
That we whose sins are crucify'd
Should raise them from the dead.
3 We will be slaves no more,
Since Christ has made us free,
Has nail'd our tyrants to his cross,
And bought our liberty.
Hymn 1:107. The fall and recovery of man; or, Christ and Satan at enmity, Gen. 3 1 15 17 Gal. 4. 4. Col. 2. 15.
1 Deceiv'd by subtle snares of hell
Adam our head, our father fell,
When Satan in the serpent hid
Propos'd the fruit that God forbid.
2 Death was the threatening; death began
To take possession of the man;
His unborn race receiv'd the wound,
And heavy curses smote the ground.
3 But Satan found a worse reward;
Thus saith the vengeance of the Lord,
"Let everlasting hatred be
"Betwixt the woman's seed and thee.
4 "The woman's seed shall be my Son,
He shall destroy what thou hast done,
"Shall break thy head, and only feel
"Thy malice raging at his heel."
5 [He spake; and bid four thousand years
Roll on;--at length his Son appears;
Angels with joy descend to earth,
And sing the young Redeemer's birth.
6 Lo, by the sons of hell he dies;
But, as he hung 'twixt earth and skies,
He gave their prince a fatal blow,
And triumph'd o'er the powers below.]
Hymn 1:108. Christ unseen and beloved, 1 Pet. 1. 8.
1 Not with our mortal eyes
Have we beheld the Lord,
Yet we rejoice to hear his Name,
And love him in his word.
2 On earth we want the sight
Of our Redeemer's face,
Yet, Lord, our inmost thoughts delight
To dwell upon thy grace.
3 And when we taste thy love,
Our joys divinely grow
Unspeakable, like those above,
And heaven begins below.
Hymn 1:109. The value of Christ and his righteousness, Phil. 3. 7 8 9.
1 No more, my God, I boast no more
Of all the duties I have done;
I quit the hopes I held before
To trust the merits of thy Son.
2 Now for the love I bear his Name,
What was my gain I count my loss,
My former pride I call my shame,
And nail my glory to his cross.
3 Yes, and I must and will esteem
All things but loss for Jesus' sake
O may my soul be found in him,
And of his righteousness partake.
4 The best obedience of my hands
Dares not appear before thy throne;
But faith can answer thy demands
By pleading what my Lord has done.
Hymn 1:110. Death and immediate glory, 2 Cor. 5. 1 5-8.
1 There is a house not made with hands,
Eternal and on high:
And here my spirit waiting stands
Till God shall bid it fly.
2 Shortly this prison of my clay
Must be dissolv'd and fall,
Then, O my soul, with joy obey
Thy heavenly Father's call.
3 'Tis he by his almighty grace
That forms thee fit for heaven,
And as an earnest of the place,
Has his own Spirit given.
4 We walk by faith of joys to come,
Faith lives upon his word;
But while the body is our home
We're absent from the Lord.
5 'Tis pleasant to believe thy grace,
But we had rather see;
We would be absent from the flesh,
And present, Lord, with thee.