Psalms Of Watts 120-125
The
Psalms Of David
By Isaac Watts
In Metre
Psalm 120.
Complaint of quarrelsome neighbours;
or, A devout wish for peace.
1 Thou God of love, thou ever blest,
Pity my suffering state;
When wilt thou set my soul at rest
From lips that love deceit?
2 Hard lot of mine! my days are cast
Among the sons of strife,
Whose never-ceasing brawlings waste
My golden hours of life.
3 O might I fly to change my place,
How would I choose to dwell
In some wide lonesome wilderness,
And leave these gates of hell.
4 Peace is the blessing that I seek,
How lovely are its charms;
I am for peace; but when I speak,
They all declare for arms.
6 New passions still their souls engage,
And keep their malice strong:
What shall be done to curb thy rage,
O thou devouring tongue!
6 Should burning arrows smite thee thro',
Strict justice would approve;
But I had rather spare my foe,
And melt his heart with love.
Psalm 121.
Divine protection.
1 Up to the hills I lift mine eyes,
Th' eternal hills beyond the skies;
Thence all her help my soul derives;
There my Almighty refuge lives.
2 He lives, the everlasting God,
That built the world, that spread the flood;
The heavens with all their hosts he made,
And the dark regions of the dead.
3 He guides our feet, he guards our way;
His morning-smiles bless all the day;
He spreads the evening veil, and keeps
The silent hours while Israel sleeps.
4 Israel, a name divinely blest,
May rise secure, securely rest;
Thy holy Guardian's wakeful eyes
Admit no slumber nor surprise.
5 No sun shall smite thy head by day,
Nor the pale moon with sickly ray
Shall blast thy couch; no baleful star
Dart his malignant fire so far.
6 Should earth and hell with malice burn,
Still thou shalt go and still return,
Safe in the Lord his heavenly care
Defends thy life from every snare.
7 On thee foul spirits have no power;
And in thy last departing hour
Angels, that trace the airy road,
Shall bear thee homeward to thy God.
Psalm 121.
Preservation by day and night.
1 To heaven I lift my waiting eyes,
There all my hopes are laid:
The Lord that built the earth and skies
Is my perpetual aid.
2 Their feet shall never slide to fall
Whom he designs to keep;
His ear attends the softest call,
His eyes can never sleep.
3 He will sustain our weakest powers
With his almighty arm,
And watch our most unguarded hours
Against surprising harm.
4 Israel, rejoice and rest secure,
Thy keeper is the Lord;
His wakeful eyes employ his power
For thine eternal guard.
5 Nor scorching sun, nor sickly moon,
Shall have his leave to smite;
He shields thy head from burning noon,
From blasting damps at night.
6 He guards thy soul, he keeps thy breath
Where thickest dangers come;
Go and return, secure from death,
Till God commands thee home.
Psalm 121.
God our preserver.
1 Upward I lift mine eyes,
From God is all my aid;
The God that built the skies,
And earth and nature made:
God is the tow'r
To which I fly:
His grace is nigh
In every hour.
2 My feet shall never slide
And fall in fatal snares,
Since God, my guard and guide,
Defends me from my fears:
Those wakeful eyes
That never sleep
Shall Israel keep,
When dangers rise.
3 No burning heats by day,
Nor blasts of evening air,
Shall take my health away,
If God be with me there.
Thou art my sun,
And thou my shade,
To guard my head
By night or noon.
4 Hast thou not given thy word
To save my soul from death?
And I can trust my Lord
To keep my mortal breath;
I'll go and come,
Nor fear to die,
Till from on high
Thou call me home.
Psalm 122.
Going to church.
1 How did my heart rejoice to hear
My friends devoutly say,
"In Zion let us all appear,
"And keep the solemn day!"
2 I love her gates, I love the road:
The church adorn'd with grace
Stands like a palace built for God,
To shew his milder face.
3 Up to her courts with joys unknown
The holy tribes repair;
The Son of David holds his throne,
And sits in judgment there.
4 He hears our praises and complaints;
And while his awful voice
Divides the sinners from the saints,
We tremble and rejoice.
5 Peace be within this sacred place,
And joy a constant guest!
With holy gifts, and heavenly grace
Be her attendants blest!
6 My soul shall pray for Zion still,
While life or breath remains;
There my best friends, my kindred dwell,
There God my Saviour reigns.
Psalm 122.
Going to church.
1 How pleas'd and blest was I
To hear the people cry,
"Come, let us seek our God today!"
Yes, with a cheerful zeal,
We haste to Zion's hill,
And there our vows and honours pay.
2 Zion, thrice happy place,
Adorn'd with wondrous grace
And walls of strength embrace thee round;
In thee our tribes appear
To pray, and praise, and hear
The sacred gospel's joyful sound.
3 There David's greater Son
Has fix'd his royal throne,
He sits for grace and judgment there;
He bids the saint be glad,
He makes the sinner sad,
And humble souls rejoice with fear.
4 May peace attend thy gate,
And joy within thee wait
To bless the soul of every guest!
The man that seeks thy peace,
And wishes thine increase,
A thousand blessings on him rest!
5 My tongue repeats her vows
"Peace to this sacred house!"
For there my friends and kindred dwell;
And since my glorious God
Makes thee his blest abode,
My soul shall ever love thee well.
Psalm 123.
Pleading with submission.
1 O thou whose grace and justice reign
Enthron'd above the skies,
To thee our hearts would tell their pain,
To thee we lift our eyes.
2 As servants watch their master's hand,
And fear the angry stroke;
Or maids before their mistress stand,
And wait a peaceful look;
3 So for our sins we justly feel
Thy discipline, O God;
Yet wait the gracious moment still,
Till thou remove thy rod.
4 Those that in wealth and pleasure live
Our daily groans deride,
And thy delays of mercy give
Fresh courage to their pride.
5 Our foes insult us, but our hope
In thy compassion lies;
This thought shall bear our spirits up,
That God will not despise.
Psalm 124.
A song for the fifth of November.
1 Had not the Lord, may Israel say,
Had not the Lord maintain'd our side,
When men to make our lives a prey,
Rose like the swelling of the tide;
2 The swelling tide had stopped our breath,
So fiercely did the waters roll,
We had been swallow'd deep in death;
Proud waters had o'erwhelm'd our soul.
3 We leap for joy, we shout and sing,
Who just escap'd the fatal stroke;
So flies the bird with cheerful wing,
When once the fowler's snare is broke.
4 For ever blessed be the Lord,
Who broke the fowler's cursed snare,
Who sav'd us from the murdering sword,
And made our lives and souls his care.
5 Our help is in Jehovah's name,
Who form'd the earth and built the skies;
He that upholds that wondrous frame
Guards his own church with watchful eyes.
Psalm 125.
The saint's trial and safety.
1 Unshaken as the sacred hill,
And firm as mountains be,
Firm as a rock the soul shall rest
That leans, O Lord, on thee.
2 Not walls nor hills could guard so well
Old Salem's happy ground,
As those eternal arms of love
That every saint surround,
3 While tyrants are a smarting scourge
To drive them near to God,
Divine compassion does allay
The fury of the rod.
4 Deal gently, Lord, with souls sincere,
And lead them safely on
To the bright gates of Paradise,
Where Christ their Lord is gone.
5 But if we trace those crooked ways
That the old serpent drew,
The wrath that drove him first to hell
Shall smite his followers too.
Psalm 125.
The saints' trial and safety;
or, Moderated afflictions.
1 Firm and unmov'd are they
That rest their souls on God;
Firm as the mount where David dwelt
Or where the ark abode.
2 As mountains stood to guard
The city's sacred ground,
So God and his almighty love
Embrace his saints around.
3 What tho' the Father's rod
Drop a chastising stroke,
Yet, lest it wound their souls too deep,
Its fury shall be broke.
4 Deal gently, Lord, with those
Whose faith and pious fear,
Whose hope, and love, and every grace
Proclaim their hearts sincere.
5 Nor shall the tyrant's rage
Too long oppress the saint;
The God of Israel will support
His children lest they faint.
6 But if our slavish fear
Will choose the road to hell,
We must expect our portion there
Where bolder sinners dwell.
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