Library · Hymns and Spiritual Songs
Book 2 · Hymns 41–50
Hymns and Spiritual Songs · Isaac Watts
Hymn 2:41. A sight of God mortifies us to the world.
1 [Up to the fields where angels lie,
And living waters gently roll,
Fain would my thoughts leap out and fly,
But sin hangs heavy on my soul.
2 Thy wondrous blood, dear dying Christ,
Can make this load of guilt remove;
And thou canst bear me where thou fly'st,
On thy kind wings, celestial Dove!]
3 O might I once mount up and see
The glories of th' eternal skies,
What little things these worlds would be!
How despicable to my eyes!
4 Had I a glance of thee, my God,
Kingdoms and men would vanish soon,
Vanish, as tho' I saw them not,
As a dim candle dies at noon.
5 Then they might fight, and rage, and rave,
I should perceive the noise no more
Than we can hear a shaking leaf,
While rattling thunders round us roar.
6 Great All in All, eternal King,
Let me but view thy lovely face,
And all my powers shall bow and sing
Thine endless grandeur and thy grace.
Hymn 2:42. Delight in God.
1 My God, what endless pleasures dwell
Above at thy right-hand!
The courts below, how amiable,
Where all thy graces stand!
2 The swallow near thy temple lies,
And chirps a cheerful note;
The lark mounts upward to thy skies,
And tunes her warbling throat:
3 And we, when in thy presence, Lord,
We shout with joyful tongues,
Or sitting round our Father's board,
We crown the feast with songs.
4 While Jesus shines with quickening grace,
We sing and mount on high;
But if a frown becloud his face,
We faint, and tire, and die.
5 [Just as we see the lonesome dove
Bemoan her widow'd state,
Wandering she flies thro' all the grove,
And mourns her loving mate.
6 Just so our thoughts from thing to thing
In restless circles rove,
Just so we drop, and hang the wing,
When Jesus hides his love.]
Hymn 2:43. Christ's sufferings and glory.
1 Now for a tune of lofty praise
To great Jehovah's equal Son!
Awake, my voice, in heavenly lays,
Tell the loud wonders he hath done.
2 Sing how he left the worlds of light
And the bright robes he wore above,
How swift and joyful was his flight
On wings of everlasting love.
3 Down to this base, this sinful earth
He came to raise our nature high;
He came t' atone almighty wrath;
Jesus the God was born to die.]
4 [Hell and its lions roar'd around,
His precious blood the monsters spilt,
While weighty sorrows press'd him down,
Large as the loads of all our guilt.]
5 Deep in the shades of gloomy death
Th' almighty Captive pris'ner lay;
Th' almighty Captive left the earth,
And rose to everlasting day.
6 Lift up your eyes, ye sons of light,
Up to his throne of shining grace,
See what immortal glories sit
Round the sweet beauties of his face.
7 Amongst a thousand harps and songs
Jesus the God exalted reigns,
His sacred Name fills all their tongues
And echoes thro' the heavenly plains!
Hymn 2:44. Hell; or, The vengeance of God.
1 With holy fear and humble song,
The dreadful God our souls adore;
Reverence and awe becomes the tongue
That speaks the terrors of his power.
2 Far in the deep where darkness dwells,
The land of horror and despair,
Justice has built a dismal hell,
And laid her stores of vengeance there.
3 [Eternal plagues and heavy chains,
Tormenting racks and fiery coals,
And darts t' inflict immortal pains,
Dy'd in the blood of damned souls.]
4 [There Satan the first sinner lies,
And roars, and bites his iron bands;
In vain the rebel strives to rise,
Crush'd with the weight of both thine hands.]
5 There guilty ghosts of Adam's race
Shriek out, and howl beneath thy rod;
Once they could scorn a Saviour's grace,
But they incens'd a dreadful God.
6 Tremble, my soul, and kiss the Son;
Sinners, obey the Saviour's call;
Else your damnation hastens on,
And hell gapes wide to wait your fall.
Hymn 2:45. God's condescension to our worship.
1 Thy favours Lord, surprise our souls;
Will the Eternal dwell with us?
What canst thou find beneath the poles
To tempt thy chariot downward thus?
2 Still might he fill his starry throne,
And please his ears with Gabriel's songs;
But th' heavenly Majesty comes down,
And bows to hearken to our tongues.
3 Great God, what poor returns we pay
For love so infinite as thine!
Words are but air, and tongues but clay,
But thy compassion's all divine.
Hymn 2:46. God's condescension to human affairs.
1 Up to the Lord that reigns on high,
And views the nations from afar,
Let everlasting praises fly,
And tell how large his bounties are.
2 [He that can shake the worlds he made,
Or with his word, or with his rod,
His goodness how amazing great!
And what a condescending God!]
3 [God that must stoop to view the skies,
And how to see what angels do,
Down to our earth he casts his eyes,
And bends his footsteps downward too.]
4 He over-rules all mortal things,
And manages our mean affairs;
On humble souls the King of kings
Bestows his counsels and his cares.
5 Our sorrows and our tears we pour
Into the bosom of our God,
He hears us in the mournful hour,
And helps us bear the heavy load.
6 In vain might lofty princes try
Such condescension to perform;
For worms were never rais'd so high
Above their meanest fellow-worm.
7 O could our thankful hearts devise
A tribute equal to thy grace,
To the third heaven our songs should rise,
And teach the golden harps thy praise.
Hymn 2:47. Glory and grace in the person of Christ.
1 Now to the Lord a noble song!
Awake, my soul, awake, my tongue;
Hosanna to th' eternal Name,
And all his boundless love proclaim.
2 See where it shines in Jesus' face,
The brightest image of his grace;
God, in the person of his Son,
Has all his mightiest works outdone.
3 The spacious earth and spreading flood
Proclaim the wise, the powerful God;
And thy rich glories from afar
Sparkle in every rolling star.
4 But in his looks a glory stands,
The noblest labour of thine hands:
The pleasing lustre of his eyes
Outshines the wonders of the skies.
5 Grace, 'tis a sweet, a charming theme;
My thoughts rejoice at Jesus' name:
Ye angels, dwell upon the sound,
Ye heavens, reflect it to the ground!
6 O, may I live to reach the place
Where he unveils his lovely face,
Where all his beauties you behold,
And sing his Name to harps of gold!
Hymn 2:48. Love to the creatures is dangerous.
1 How vain are all things here below!
How false, and yet how fair!
Each pleasure hath its poison too,
And every sweet a snare.
2 The brightest things below the sky
Give but a flattering light;
We should suspect some danger nigh
Where we possess delight.
3 Our dearest joys, and nearest friends,
The partners of our blood,
How they divide our wavering minds,
And leave but half for God!
4 The fondness of a creature's love,
How strong it strikes the sense!
Thither the warm affections move,
Nor can we call them thence.
5 Dear Saviour, let thy beauties be
My soul's eternal food;
And grace command my heart away
From all created good.
Hymn 2:49. Moses dying in the embraces of God.
1 Death cannot make our souls afraid
If God be with us there;
We may walk thro' her darkest shade,
And never yield to fear.
2 I could renounce my all below,
If my Creator bid,
And run, if I were call'd to go,
And die as Moses did.
3 Might I but climb to Pisgah's top,
And view the promis'd land,
My flesh itself shall long to drop,
And pray for the command.
4 Clasp'd in my heavenly Father's arms
I would forget my breath,
And lose my life among the charms
Of so divine a death.
Hymn 2:50. Comfort under sorrows and pains.
1 Now let the Lord my Saviour smile,
And shew my name upon his heart,
I would forget my pains awhile,
And in the pleasure lose the smart.
But O it swells my sorrows high
To see my blessed Jesus frown!
My spirits sink, my comforts die,
And all the springs of life are down.
3 Yet why, my soul, why these complaints?
Still while he frowns his bowels move;
Still on his heart he bears his saints,
And feels their sorrows and his love.
4 My name is printed on his breast;
His book of life contains my name;
I'd rather have it there impress'd
Than in the bright records of fame.
5 When the last fire burns all things here,
Those letters shall securely stand,
And in the Lamb's fair book appear,
Writ by th' eternal Father's hand.
6 Now shall my minutes smoothly run,
Whil'st here I wait my Father's will;
My rising and my setting sun
Roll gently up and down the hill.