Psalms Of Watts 66-70

 The

Psalms Of David

By Isaac Watts

In Metre

Isaac Watts did not write a Psalm in Metre for Psalm 70.

Psalm 66 - Part One.

Governing power and goodness;
or, Our graces tried by afflictions.

1 Sing, all ye nations, to the Lord,
Sing with a joyful noise;
With melody of sound record
His honours, and your joys.

2 Say to the power that shakes the sky,
"How terrible art thou!
"Sinners before thy presence fly,
"Or at thy feet they bow."

3 [Come, see the wonders of our God,
How glorious are his ways:
In Moses' hand he puts his rod,
And cleaves the frighted seas.

4 He made the ebbing channel dry,
While Israel pass'd the flood;
There did the church begin their joy,
And triumph in their God.]

5 He rules by his resistless might:
Will rebel mortals dare
Provoke th' Eternal to the fight,
And tempt that dreadful war?

6 0 bless our God and never cease;
Ye saints, fulfil his praise;
He keeps our life, maintains our peace,
And guides our doubtful ways.

7 Lord, thou hast prov'd our suffering souls,
To make our graces shine;
So silver bears the burning coals
The metal to refine.

8 Thro' watery deeps and fiery ways
We march at thy command,
Led to possess the promis'd place
By thine unerring hand.

Psalm 66 - Part Two.

Verses 13-20. Praise to God for hearing prayer.

1 Now shall my solemn vows be paid
To that Almighty Power,
That heard the long requests I made
In my distressful hour.

2 My lips and cheerful heart prepare
To make his mercies known;
Come, ye that fear my God, and hear
The wonders he has done.

3 When on my head huge sorrows fell,
I sought his heavenly aid,
He sav'd my sinking soul from hell,
And death's eternal shade.

4 If sin lay cover'd in my heart,
While prayer employ'd my tongue,
The Lord had shewn me no regard,
Nor I his praises sung.

5 But God, (his name be ever blest)
Hath set my spirit free,
Nor turn'd from him my poor request,
Nor turn'd his heart from me.

Psalm 67.

The nation's prosperity, and the church's increase.

1 Shine, mighty God, on Britain shine
With beams of heavenly grace;
Reveal thy power thro' all our coasts,
And shew thy smiling face.

2 [Amidst our isle, exalted high,
Do thou our glory stand,
And like a wall of guardian fire
Surround the favourite land.]

3 When shall thy name, from shore to shore,
Sound all the earth abroad,
And distant nations know and love
Their Saviour and their God?

4 Sing to the Lord, ye distant lands,
Sing loud with solemn voice;
While British tongues exalt his praise,
And British hearts rejoice.

5 He the great Lord, the sovereign Judge,
That sits enthron'd above
Wisely commands the worlds he made
In justice and in love.

6 Earth shall obey her Maker's will,
And yield a full increase;
Our God will crown his chosen isle
With fruitfulness and peace.

7 God the Redeemer scatters round
His choicest favours here,
While the creation's utmost bound
Shall see, adore, and fear.

Psalm 68 - Part One.

Verses 1-6, 32-35.
The vengeance and compassion of God.

1 Let God arise in all his might,
And put the troops of hell to flight,
As smoke that sought to cloud the skies
Before the rising tempest flies.

2 [He comes array'd in burning flames;
Justice and vengeance are his names:
Behold his fainting foes expire
Like melting wax before the fire.]

3 He rides and thunders thro' the sky;
His name Jehovah sounds on high:
Sing to his name, ye sons of grace;
Ye saints, rejoice before his face.

4 The widow and the fatherless
Fly to his aid in sharp distress;
In him the poor and helpless find
A Judge that's just, a Father kind.

5 He breaks the captive's heavy chain,
And prisoners see the light again;
But rebels that dispute his will,
Shall dwell in chains and darkness still.

PAUSE.

6 Kingdoms and thrones to God belong;
Crown him, ye nations, in your song;
His wondrous names and powers rehearse;
His honours shall enrich your verse.

7 He shakes the heavens with loud alarms;
How terrible is God in arms!
In Israel are his mercies known,
Israel is his peculiar throne.

8 Proclaim him King, pronounce him blest!
He's your defence, your joy, your rest:
When terrors rise and nations faint,
God is the strength of every saint.

Psalm 68 - Part Two.

Verses 17-18.
Christ's ascension, and the gift of the Spirit.

1 Lord, when thou didst ascend on high,
Ten thousand angels fill'd the sky;
Those heavenly guards around thee wait,
Like chariots that attend thy state.

2 Not Sinai's mountain could appear
More glorious when the Lord was there;
While he pronounc'd his dreadful law,
And struck the chosen tribes with awe.

3 How bright the triumph none can tell,
When the rebellious powers of hell
That thousand souls had captive made,
Were all in chains like captives led.

4 Rais'd by his Father to the throne,
He sent the promis'd Spirit down,
With gifts and grace for rebel men,
That God might dwell on earth again.

Psalm 68 - Part Three.

Verses 9, 19-22. Praise for temporal blessings;
or, Common and special mercies.

1 We bless the Lord, the just, the good,
Who fills our hearts with joy and food;
Who pours his blessings from the skies,
And loads our days with rich supplies.

2 He sends the sun his circuit round,
To cheer the fruits, to warm the ground;
He bids the clouds with plenteous rain
Refresh the thirsty earth again.

3 'Tis to his care we owe our breath,
And all our near escapes from death;
Safety and health to God belong;
He heals the weak, and guards the strong.

4 He makes the saint and sinner prove
The common blessings of his love;
But the wide difference that remains,
Is endless joy, or endless pains.

5 The Lord, that bruis'd the serpent's head,
On all the serpent's seed shall tread;
The stubborn sinner's hope confound,
And smite him with a lasting wound.

6 But his right hand his saints shall raise
From the deep earth, or deeper seas,
And bring them to his courts above,
There shall they taste his special love.

Psalm 69 - Part One.

Verses 1-14. The sufferings of Christ for our salvation.

1 "Save me, O God, the swelling floods
"Break in upon my soul:
"I sink, and sorrows o'er my head
"Like mighty waters roll.

2 "I cry till all my voice be gone,
"In tears I waste the day:
"My God behold my longing eyes,
"And shorten thy delay.

3 "They hate my soul without a cause,
"And still their number grows
"More than the hairs around my head,
"And mighty are my foes.

4 "'Twas then I paid that dreadful debt
"That men could never pay,
"And gave those honours to thy law
"Which sinners took away."

5 Thus in the great Messiah's name,
The royal prophet mourns;
Thus he awakes our hearts to grief,
And gives us joy by turns.

6 "Now shall the saints rejoice and find
"Salvation in my name:
"For I have borne their heavy load
Of sorrow, pain, and shame.

7 "Grief, like a garment, cloth'd me round,
"And sackcloth was my dress,
"While I procur'd for naked souls
"A robe of righteousness.

8 "Amongst my brethren and the Jews
"I like a stranger stood,
"And bore their vile reproach to bring
"The Gentiles near to God.

9 "I came in sinful mortals' stead,
"To do my Father's will;
"Yet when I cleans'd my father's house
"They scandaliz'd my zeal.

10 "My fasting and my holy groans
"Were made the drunkard's song;
"But God, from his celestial throne,
"Heard my complaining tongue.

11 "He sav'd me from the dreadful deep,
"Nor let my soul be drown'd;
"He rais'd and fix'd my sinking feet
"On well establish'd ground.

12 "'Twas in a most accepted hour
"My prayer arose on high,
"And for my sake my God shall hear
"The dying sinner's cry."

Psalm 69 - Part Two.

Verses 14-21, 26, 29, 32.
The passion and exaltation of Christ.

1 Now let our lips with holy fear
And mournful pleasure sing
The sufferings of our great High-Priest,
The sorrows of our King.

2 He sinks in floods of deep distress:
How high the waters rise!
While to his heavenly Father's ear
He sends perpetual cries.

3 "Hear me, O Lord, and save thy Son,
"Nor hide thy shining face;
"Why should thy favorite look like one
"Forsaken of thy grace?

4 "With rage they persecute the man
"That groans beneath thy wound,
"While for a sacrifice I pour
"My life upon the ground.

S "They tread my honour to the dust,
" And laugh when I complain
"Their sharp insulting slanders add
"Fresh anguish to my pain.

6 "All my reproach is known to thee,
"The scandal and the shame;
"Reproach has broke my bleeding heart,
"And lies defil'd my name.

7 "I look'd for pity, but in vain;
"My kindred are my grief!
"I ask my friends for comfort round,
"But meet with no relief.

8 "With vinegar they mock my thirst;
"They give me gall for food;
"And sporting with my dying groans,
"They triumph in my blood.

9 "Shine into my distressed soul,
"Let thy compassion save;
"And tho' my flesh sink down to death,
"Redeem it from the grave.

10 "I shall arise to praise thy name,
"Shall reign in worlds unknown;
"And thy salvation, O my God,
"Shall seat me on thy throne."

Psalm 69 - Part Three.

Christ's obedience and death;
or, God glorified and sinners saved.

1 Father, I sing thy wondrous grace,
I bless my Saviour's name,
He bought salvation for the poor,
And bore the sinner's shame.

2 His deep distress has rais'd us high,
His duty and his zeal
Fulfill'd the law which mortals broke,
And finish'd all thy will.

3 His dying groans, his living songs
Shall better please my God
Than harp or trumpet's solemn sound,
Than goats' or bullocks' blood.

4 This shall his humble followers see,
And set their hearts at rest;
They by his death draw near to thee,
And live for ever blest.

5 Let heaven, and all that dwell on high,
To God their voices raise,
While lands and seas assist the sky,
And join t' advance the praise.

6 Zion is thine, most holy God;
Thy Son shall bless her gates;
And glory purchas'd by his blood
For thine own Israel waits.

Psalm 69 - Part One.

Christ's passion, and sinners' salvation.

1 Deep in our hearts let us record
The deeper sorrows of our Lord;
Behold the rising billows roll
To overwhelm his holy soul.

2 In long complaints he spends his breath,
While hosts of hell, and powers of death,
And all the sons of malice join
To execute their curst design.

3 Yet, gracious God, thy power and love
Has made the curse a blessing prove;
Those dreadful sufferings of thy Son
Aton'd for sins which we had done.

4 The pangs of our expiring Lord
The honours of thy law restor'd;
His sorrows made thy justice known,
And paid for follies not his own.

6 O for his sake our guilt forgive,
And let the mourning sinner live;
The Lord will hear us in his name,
Nor shall our hope be turn'd to shame.

Psalm 69 - Part Two.

Verses 7-24. Christ's sufferings and zeal.

1 'Twas for thy sake, eternal God,
Thy Son sustain'd that heavy load
Of base reproach and sore disgrace,
And shame defil'd his sacred face.

2 The Jews, his brethren and his kin,
Abus'd the Man that check'd their sin:
While he fulfill'd thy holy laws,
They hate him, but without a cause.

3 ["My Father's house, said he, was made
"A place for worship, not for trade;"
Then scattering all their gold and brass,
He scourg'd the merchants from the place.]

4 [Zeal for the temple of his God
Consum'd his life, expos'd his blood:
Reproaches at thy glory thrown
He felt, and mourn'd them as his own.]

5 [His friends forsook, his followers fled,
While foes and arms surround his head;
They curse him with a slanderous tongue,
And the false judge maintains the wrong.]

6 His life they load with hateful lies,
And charge his lips with blasphemies;
They nail him to the shameful tree:
There hung the Man that dy'd for me.

7 [Wretches with hearts as hard as stones,
Insult his piety and groans;
Gall was the food they gave him there,
And mock'd his thirst with vinegar.]

8 But God beheld; and from his throne
Marks out the men that hate his Son;
The hand that rais'd him from the dead
Shall pour the vengeance on their head.

Psalms 71-75