Psalms Of Watts 71-75
The
Psalms Of David
By Isaac Watts
In Metre
Psalm 71 - Part One.
Verses 5-9.
The aged saint's reflection and hope.
1 My God, my everlasting hope,
I live upon thy truth;
Thine hands have held my childhood up,
And strengthen'd all my youth.
2 My flesh was fashion'd by thy power,
With all these limbs of mine;
And from my mother's painful hour
I've been entirely thine.
3 Still has my life new wonders seen
Repeated every year;
Behold my days that yet remain,
I trust them to thy care.
4 Cast me not off when strength declines,
When hoary hairs arise;
And round me let thy glories shine
Whene'er thy servant dies.
5 Then in the history of my age,
When men review my days,
They'll read thy love in every page,
In every line thy praise.
Psalm 71 - Part Two.
Verses 14-16, 22-24.
Christ our strength and righteousness.
1 My Saviour, my almighty Friend,
When I begin thy praise,
Where will the growing numbers end,
The numbers of thy grace ?
2 Thou art my everlasting trust,
Thy goodness I adore;
And since I knew thy graces first
I speak thy glories more.
3 My feet shall travel all the length
Of the celestial road,
And march with courage in thy strength
To see my Father God.
4 When I am fill'd with sore distress
For some surprising sin,
I'll plead thy perfect righteousness,
And mention none but thine.
5 How will my lips rejoice to tell
The victories of my King!
My soul redeem'd from sin and hell
Shall thy salvation sing.
6 [My tongue shall all the day proclaim
My Saviour and my God;
His death has brought my foes to shame,
And drown'd them in his blood.
7 Awake, awake my tuneful powers;
With this delightful song
I'll entertain the darkest hours,
Nor think the season long.]
Psalm 71 - Part Three.
Verses 17-21. The aged Christian's prayer and song.
1 God of my childhood and my youth,
The guide of all my days,
I have declar'd thy heavenly truth,
And told thy wondrous ways.
2 Wilt thou forsake my hoary hairs,
And leave my fainting heart?
Who shall sustain my sinking years
If God my strength depart?
3 Let me thy power and truth proclaim
To the surviving age,
And leave a savour of thy name
When I shall quit the stage.
4 The land of silence and of death
Attends my next remove;
O may these poor remains of breath
Teach the wide world thy love.
PAUSE.
5 Thy righteousness is deep and high,
Unsearchable thy deeds;
Thy glory spreads beyond the sky,
And all my praise exceeds.
6 Oft have I heard thy threatenings roar,
And oft endur'd the grief;
But when thy hand has press'd me sore,
Thy grace was my relief.
7 By long experience have I known
Thy sovereign power to save;
At thy command I venture down
Securely to the grave.
8 When I lie buried deep in dust,
My flesh shall be thy care
These withering limbs with thee I trust
To raise them strong and fair.
Psalm 72 - Part One.
The kingdom of Christ.
1 Great God, whose universal sway
The known and unknown worlds obey,
Now give the kingdom to thy Son,
Extend his power, exalt his throne.
2 Thy sceptre well becomes his hands,
All heaven submits to his commands;
His justice shall avenge the poor,
And pride and rage prevail no more.
3 With power he vindicates the just,
And treads th' oppressor in the dust;
His worship and his fear shall last
Till hours and years and time be past.
4 As rain on meadows newly mown
So shall he send his influence down;
His grace on fainting souls distils
Like heavenly dew on thirsty hills.
5 The heathen lands that lie beneath
The shades of overspreading death,
Revive at his first dawning light,
And deserts blossom at the sight.
6 The saints shall flourish in his days,
Drest in the robes of joy and praise;
Peace like a river from his throne
Shall flow to nations yet unknown.
Psalm 72 - Part Two.
Christ's kingdom among the Gentiles.
1 Jesus shall reign where'er the sun
Does his successive journies run;
His kingdom stretch from shore to shore,
Till moons shall wax and wane no more.
2 [Behold the islands with their kings,
And Europe her best tribute brings;
From north to south the princes meet
To pay their homage at his feet.
3 There Persia glorious to behold,
There India shines in eastern gold:
And barbarous nations at his word
Submit, and bow, and own their Lord.]
4 For him shall endless prayer be made
And princes throng to crown his head;
His name like sweet perfume shall rise
With every morning sacrifice.
5 People and realms of every tongue
Dwell on his love with sweetest song:
And infant voices shall proclaim
Their early blessings on his name.
6 Blessings abound where'er he reigns,
The prisoner leaps to lose his chains,
The weary find eternal rest,
And all the sons of want are blest.
7 [Where he displays his healing power,
Death and the curse are known no more;
In him the tribes of Adam boast
More blessings than their father lost.
8 Let every creature rise, and bring
Peculiar honours to our King;
Angels descend with songs again,
And earth repeat the long Amen.]
Psalm 73 - Part One.
Afflicted saints happy, and prosperous sinners cursed.
1 Now I'm convinc'd the Lord is kind
To men of heart sincere,
Yet once my foolish thoughts repin'd
And border'd on despair.
2 I griev'd to see the wicked thrive,
And spoke with angry breath,
"How pleasant and profane they live!
"How peaceful is their death!
3 "With well-fed flesh and haughty eyes
"They lay their fears to sleep;
"Against, the heavens their slanders rise,
"While saints in silence weep.
4 "In vain I lift my hands to pray,
"And cleanse my heart in vain,
"For I am chasten'd all the day,
"The night renews my pain."
5 Yet while my tongue indulg'd complaints,
I felt my heart reprove;
"Sure I shall thus offend thy saints,
"And grieve the men I love."
6 But still I found my doubts too hard,
The conflict too severe,
Till I retir'd to search thy word,
And learn thy secrets there.
7 There, as in some prophetic glass,
I saw the sinner's feet
High mounted on a slippery place,
Beside a fiery pit.
8 I heard the wretch profanely boast,
Till at thy frown he fell;
His honours in a dream were lost,
And he awakes in hell.
9 Lord, what an envious fool I was!
How like a thoughtless beast!
Thus to suspect thy promis'd grace,
And think the wicked blest.
10 Yet I was kept from full despair,
Upheld by power unknown;
That blessed band that broke the snare
Shall guide me to thy throne.
Psalm 73 - Part Two.
Verses 23-28. God our portion here and hereafter.
1 God my supporter and my hope,
My help for ever near,
Thine arm of mercy held me up
When sinking in despair.
2 Thy counsels, Lord, shall guide my feet
Thro' this dark wilderness;
Thine hand conduct me near thy seat
To dwell before thy face.
3 Were I in heaven without my God,
'Twould be no joy to me;
And whilst this earth is my abode,
I long for none but thee.
4 What if the springs of life were broke,
And flesh and heart should faint!
God is my soul's eternal rock,
The strength of every saint.
5 Behold the sinners that remove
Far from thy presence die;
Not all the idol gods they love
Can save them when they cry.
6 But to draw near to thee, my God,
Shall be my sweet employ;
My tongue shall sound thy works abroad,
And tell the world my joy.
Psalm 73.
Verses 22, 3, 6, 17-20.
The prosperity of sinners cursed.
1 Lord, what a thoughtless wretch was I,
To mourn, and murmur, and repine
To see the wicked plac'd on high,
In pride and robes of honour shine!
2 But O their end, their dreadful end!
Thy sanctuary taught me so:
On slippery rocks I see them stand,
And fiery billows roll below.
3 Now let them boast how tall they rise,
I'll never envy them again;
There they may stand with haughty eyes,
Till they plunge deep in endless pain.
4 Their fancy'd joys, how fast they flee!
Just like a dream when man awakes;
Their songs of softest harmony
Are but a preface to their plagues.
5 Now I esteem their mirth and wine
Too dear to purchase with my blood;
Lord, 'tis enough that thou art mine,
My life, my portion, and my God.
Psalm 73.
The mystery of providence unfolded.
1 Sure there's a righteous God,
Nor is religion vain,
Tho' men of vice may boast aloud,
And men of grace complain.
2 I saw the wicked rise,
And felt my heart repine,
While haughty fools with scornful eyes
In robes of honour shine.
3 [Pamper'd with wanton ease,
Their flesh looks full and fair,
Their wealth rolls in like flowing seas,
And grows without their care.
4 Free from the plagues and pains
That pious souls endure,
Thro' all their life oppression reigns
And racks the humble poor.
5 Their impious tongues blaspheme
The everlasting God;
Their malice blasts the good man's name,
And spreads their lies abroad.
6 But I with flowing tears
Indulge my doubts to rise
"Is there a God that sees or hears
"The things below the skies?"]
7 The tumults of my thought
Held me in hard suspense,
Till to thy house my feet were brought
To learn thy justice thence.
8 Thy word with light and power
Did my mistakes attend;
I view'd the sinners' life before,
But here I learnt their end.
9 On what a slippery steep
The thoughtless wretches go;
And O that dreadful fiery deep
That waits their fall below.
10 Lord, at thy feet I bow,
My thoughts no more repine;
I call my God my portion now,
And all my powers are thine.
Psalm 74.
The church pleading with God under sore persecutions.
1 Will God for ever cast us off?
His wrath for ever smoke
Against the people of his love,
His little chosen flock?
2 Think of the tribes so dearly bought
With their Redeemer's blood;
Nor let thy Sion be forgot,
Where once thy glory stood.
3 Lift up thy feet and march in haste,
Aloud our ruin calls;
See what a wide and fearful waste
Is made within thy walls.
4 Where once thy churches pray'd and sang
Thy foes profanely roar;
Over thy gates their ensigns hang,
Sad tokens of their power.
5 How are the seats of worship broke!
They tear the buildings down,
And he that deals the heaviest stroke
Procures the chief renown.
6 With flames they threaten to destroy
Thy children in their nest;
"Come let us burn at once (they cry)
The temple and the priest."
7 And still to heighten our distress
Thy presence is withdrawn;
Thy wonted signs of power and grace,
Thy power and grace are gone.
8 No prophet speaks to calm our woes,
But all the seers mourn;
There's not a soul amongst us knows
The time of thy return.
PAUSE.
9 How long, eternal God, how long
Shall men of pride blaspheme?
Shall saints be made their endless song,
And bear immortal shame?
10 Canst thou for ever sit and hear
Thine holy name profan'd ?
And still thy jealousy forbear,
And still withhold thine hand?
11 What strange deliverance hast thou shown
In ages long before!
And now no other God we own,
No other God adore.
12 Thou didst divide the raging sea
By thy resistless might,
To make thy tribes a wondrous way,
And then secure their flight.
13 Is not the world of nature thine,
The darkness and the day?
Didst thou not bid the morning shine,
And mark the sun his way?
14 Hath not thy power form'd every coast,
And set the earth its bounds,
With summer's heat and winter's frost,
In their perpetual rounds?
15 And shall the sons of earth and dust
That sacred power blaspheme?
Will not thy hand that form'd them first
Avenge thine injur'd name?
16 Think on the covenant thou hast made,
And all thy words of love;
Nor let the birds of prey invade
And vex thy mourning dove.
17 Our foes would triumph in our blood,
And make our hope their jest;
Plead thy own cause, Almighty God!
And give thy children rest.
Psalm 75.
Power and government from God alone.
(Applied to the glorious Revolution by King William, or
the happy Accession of King George to the Throne.)
1 To thee, most holy, and most high,
To thee, we bring our thankful praise;
Thy works declare thy name is nigh,
Thy works of wonder and of grace.
2 Britain was doom'd to be a slave,
Her frame dissolv'd, her fears were great;
When God a new supporter gave
To bear the pillars of the state.
3 He from thy hand receiv'd his crown,
And sware to rule by wholesome laws
His foot shall tread th' oppressor down,
His arm defend the righteous cause.
4 Let haughty sinners sink their pride,
Nor lift so high their scornful head;
But lay their foolish thoughts aside,
And own the king that God hath made.
5 Such honours never come by chance,
Nor do the winds promotion blow;
'Tis God the Judge doth one advance,
'Tis God that lays another low.
6 No vain pretence to royal birth
Shall fix a tyrant on the throne:
God the great Sovereign of the earth
Will rise and make his justice known.
7 [His hand holds out the dreadful cup
Of vengeance, mix'd with various plagues,
To make the wicked drink them up,
Wring out and taste the bitter dregs.
8 Now shall the Lord exalt the just,
And while he tramples on the proud,
And lays their glory in the dust,
My lips shall sing his praise aloud.]
Comments
Post a Comment