Book 1 · Hymns 111–120

Hymns and Spiritual Songs · Isaac Watts

Hymn 1:111. Salvation by grace, Titus 3. 3-7.

1 [Lord, we confess our numerous faults,
How great our guilt has been!
Foolish and vain were all our thoughts,
And all our lives were sin.

2 But O, my soul, for ever praise,
For ever love his Name,
Who turns thy feet from dangerous ways
Of folly, sin, and shame.]

3 ['Tis not by works of righteousness
Which our own hands have done;
But we are sav'd by sovereign grace
Abounding thro' his Son.]

4 'Tis from the mercy of our God
That all our hopes begin;
'Tis by the water and the blood
Our souls are wash'd from sin.

5 'Tis thro' the purchase of his death,
Who hung upon the tree,
The Spirit is sent down to breathe
On such dry bones as we.

6 Rais'd from the dead we live anew;
And justify'd by grace
We shall appear in glory too,
And see our Father's face.

Hymn 1:112. The brazen serpent; or, Looking to Jesus, John 3. 14 15 16.

1 So did the Hebrew prophet raise
The brazen serpent high,
The wounded felt immediate ease,
The camp forbore to die.

2 "Look upward in the dying hour,
And live," the prophet cries;
But Christ performs a nobler cure,
When Faith lifts up her eyes.

3 High on the cross the Saviour hung,
High in the heavens he reigns:
Here sinners by th' old serpent stung
Look, and forget their pains.

4 When God's own Son is lifted up,
A dying world revives,
The Jew beholds the glorious hope,
Th' expiring Gentile lives.

Hymn 1:113. Abraham's blessings on the Gentiles, Gen. 17. 7. Rom. 15. 8. Mark 10. 14.

1 How large the promise! how divine,
To Abra'am and his seed!
"I'll be a God to thee and thine,
"Supplying all their need."

2 The words of his extensive love
From age to age endure;
The angel of the covenant proves,
And seals the blessing sure.

3 Jesus the ancient faith confirms
To our great fathers given;
He takes young children to his arms,
And calls them heirs of heaven.

4 Our God, how faithful are his ways!
His love endures the same;
Nor from the promise of his grace
Blots out the children's name.

Hymn 1:114. The same, Rom. 11. 16 17.

1 Gentiles by nature we belong
To the wild olive wood;
Grace took us from the barren tree,
And grafts us in the good.

2 With the same blessings grace endows
The Gentile and the Jew;
If pure and holy be the root,
Such are the branches too.

3 Then let the children of the saints
Be dedicate to God;
Pour out thy Spirit on them, Lord,
And wash them in thy blood.

4 Thus to the parents and their seed
Shall thy salvation come,
And numerous households meet at last
In one eternal home.

Hymn 1:115. Conviction of sin by the law, Rom. 7. 8 9 14 24.

1 Lord, how secure my conscience was,
And felt no inward dread!
I was alive without the law,
And thought my sins were dead.

2 My hopes of heaven were firm and bright,
But since the precept came
With a convincing power and light,
I find how vile I am.

3 [My guilt appear'd but small before,
Till terribly I saw
How perfect, holy, just, and pure,
Was thine eternal law.

4 Then felt my soul the heavy load,
My sins reviv'd again,
I had provok'd a dreadful God,
And all my hopes were slain.]

5 I'm like a helpless captive sold
Under the power of sin;
I cannot do the good I would,
Nor keep my conscience clean.

6 My God, I cry with every breath
For some kind power to save,
To break the yoke of sin and death,
And thus redeem the slave.

Hymn 1:116. Love to God and our neighbour, Matt. 22. 37-40.

1 Thus saith the first, the great command,
"Let all thy inward powers unite
"To love thy Maker and thy God,
"With utmost vigour and delight.

2 "Then shall thy neighbour next in place
"Share thine affections and esteem,
"And let thy kindness to thyself
"Measure and rule thy love to him."

3 This is the sense that Moses spoke,
This did the prophets preach and prove,
For want of this the law is broke,
And the whole law's fulfill'd by love.

4 But O! how base our passions are!
How cold our charity and zeal!
Lord, fill our souls with heavenly fire,
Or we shall ne'er perform thy will.

Hymn 1:117. Election sovereign and free, Rom. 9. 21 22 23 20.

1 Behold the potter and the clay,
He forms his vessels as he please:
Such is our God, and such are we,
The subjects of his high decrees.

2 [Doth not the workman's power extend
O'er all the mass, which part to choose,
And mould it for a nobler end,
And which to leave for viler use?]

3 May not the sovereign Lord on high
Dispense his favours as he will,
Choose some to life while others die,
And yet be just and gracious still?

4 [What if to make his terror known
He lets his patience long endure,
Suffering vile rebels to go on
And seal their own destruction sure!

5 What if he means to shew his grace,
And his electing love employs
To mark out some of mortal race,
And form them fit for heavenly joys!]

6 Shall man reply against the Lord,
And call his Maker's ways unjust,
The thunder of whose dreadful word
Can crush a thousand worlds to dust?

7 But, O my soul, if truths so bright
Should dazzle and confound thy sight
Yet still his written will obey,
And wait the great decisive day.

8 Then shall he make his justice known,
And the whole world before his throne
With joy or terror shall confess
The glory of his righteousness.

Hymn 1:118. Moses and Christ; or, Sins against the law and gospel, John 1. 17. Heb. 3. 3 5 6 and 10. 28 29.

1 The law by Moses came,
But peace, and truth, and love,
Were brought by Christ, a nobler name,
Descending from above.

2 Amidst the house of God
Their different works were done;
Moses a faithful servant stood,
But Christ a faithful Son.

3 Then to his new commands
Be strict obedience paid;
O'er all his Father's house he stands
The sovereign and the head.

4 The man that durst despise
The law that Moses brought,
Behold! how terribly he dies
For his presumptuous fault.

5 But sorer vengeance falls
On that rebellious race,
Who hate to hear when Jesus calls,
And dare resist his grace.

Hymn 1:119. 'The different success of the gospel, 1 Cor. 1. 23 24. 2 Cor. 2. 16. 1 Cor. 3. 6 7.

1 Christ and his cross is all our theme;
The mysteries that we speak
Are scandal in the Jew's esteem,
And folly to the Greek.

2 But souls enlighten'd from above
With joy receive the word;
They see what wisdom, power, and love
Shines in their dying Lord.

3 The vital savour of his Name
Restores their fainting breath;
But unbelief perverts the same
To guilt, despair, and death.

4 Till God diffuse his graces down,
Like showers of heavenly rain,
In vain Apollos sows the ground,
And Paul may plant in vain.

Hymn 1:120. Faith of things unseen, Heb. 11. 1 3 8 10.

1 Faith is the brightest evidence
Of things beyond our sight,
Breaks thro' the clouds of flesh and sense,
And dwells in heavenly light.

2 It sets times past in present view,
Brings distant prospects home,
Of things a thousand years ago,
Or thousand years to come.

3 By faith we know the worlds were made
By God's almighty word;
Abra'm to unknown countries led,
By faith obey'd the Lord.

4 He sought a city fair and high,
Built by th' eternal hands;
And faith assures us, tho' we die,
That heavenly building stands.

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