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Hymns and Spiritual Songs

Isaac Watts

Section 29 of 42 - Table of Contents
Hymn 2:121.
The law and gospel distinguished.

1 The law commands, and makes us know
What duties to our God we owe;
But 'tis the gospel must reveal
Where lies our strength to do his will.

2 The law discovers guilt and sin,
And shews how vile our hearts have been;
Only the gospel can express
Forgiving love and cleansing grace.

3 What curses doth the law denounce
Against the man that fails but once!
But in the gospel Christ appears
Pardoning the guilt of numerous years.

4 My soul, no more attempt to draw
Thy life and comfort from the law,
Fly to the hope the gospel gives;
The man that trusts the promise lives.


Hymn 2:122.
Retirement and meditation.

1 My God, permit me not to be
A stranger to myself and thee;
Amidst a thousand thoughts I rove
Forgetful of my highest love.

2 Why should my passions mix with earth,
And thus debase my heavenly birth?
Why should I cleave to things below,
And let my God, my Saviour go?

3 Call me away from flesh and sense,
One sovereign word can draw me thence;
I would obey the voice divine,
And all inferior joys resign.

4 Be earth with all her scenes withdrawn,
Let noise and vanity be gone;
In secret silence of the mind,
My heaven, and there my God I find.


Hymn 2:123.
The benefit of public ordinances.

1 Away from every mortal care,
Away from earth our souls retreat;
We leave this worthless world afar,
And wait and worship near thy seat.

2 Lord, in the temple of thy grace
We see thy feet, and we adore;
We gaze upon thy lovely face,
And learn the wonders of thy power.

3 While here our various wants we mourn,
United groans ascend on high,
And prayer bears a quick return
Of blessings in variety.

4 [If Satan rage and sin grow strong,
Here we receive some cheering word;
We gird the gospel armour on
To fight the battles of the Lord.

5 Or if our spirit faints and dies,
(Our conscience gall'd with inward stings)
Here doth the righteous sun arise
With healing beams beneath his wings.]

6 Father, my soul would still abide
Within thy temple, near thy side;
But if my feet must hence depart
Still keep thy dwelling in my heart.


Hymn 2:124.
Moses, Aaron, and Joshua.

1 'Tis not the law of ten commands
On holy Sinai given,
Or sent to men by Moses' hands,
Can bring us safe to heaven.

2 'Tis not the blood which Aaron spilt,
Nor smoke of sweetest smell,
Can buy a pardon for our guilt,
Or save our souls from hell.

3 Aaron the priest resigns his breath
At God's immediate will;
And in the desert yields to death
Upon th' appointed hill.

4 And thus on Jordan's yonder side
The tribes of Israel stand,
While Moses bow'd his head and dy'd
Short of the promis'd land.

5 Israel rejoice, now Joshua * leads,
He'll bring your tribes to rest;
So far the Saviour's name exceeds
The ruler and the priest.

* Joshua, the same with Jesus,
and signifies a Saviour.


Hymn 2:125.
Faith and repentance; unbelief and impenitence.

1 Life and immortal joys are given
To those that mourn the sins they've done,
Children of wrath made heirs of heaven
By faith in God's eternal Son.

2 Woe to the wretch that never felt
The inward pangs of pious grief,
But adds to all his crying guilt
The stubborn sin of unbelief.

3 The law condemns the rebel dead,
Under the wrath of God he lies,
He seals the curse on his own head,
And with a double vengeance dies.


Hymn 2:126.
God glorified in the gospel.

1 The Lord, descending from above,
Invites his children near,
While power and truth and boundless love
Display their glories here.

2 Here in thy gospel's wondrous frame
Fresh wisdom we pursue;
A thousand angels learn thy Name
Beyond whate'er they knew.

3 Thy Name is writ in fairest lines,
Thy wonders here we trace;
Wisdom thro' all the mystery shines,
And shines in Jesu's face.

4 The law its best obedience owes
To our incarnate God;
And thy revenging justice shows
Its honours in his blood.

6 But still the lustre of thy grace
Our warmer thoughts employs,
Gilds the whole scene with brighter rays,
And more exalts our joys.


Hymn 2:127.
Circumcision and baptism.
(Written only for those
who practise infant baptism.)

1 Thus did the sons of Abrah'm pass
Under the bloody seal of grace;
The young disciples bore the yoke,
Till Christ the painful bondage broke.

2 By milder ways doth Jesus prove
His Father's covenant, and his love;
He seals to saints his glorious grace,
And not forbids their infant race.

3 Their seed is sprinkled with his blood,
Their children set apart for God,
His Spirit on their offspring shed,
Like water pour'd upon the head.

4 Let every saint with cheerful voice
In this large covenant rejoice;
Young children in their early days
Shall give the God of Abrah'm praise.


Hymn 2:128.
Corrupt nature from Adam.

1 Bless'd with the joy of innocence
Adam, our father, stood,
Till he debas'd his soul to sense,
And ate th' unlawful food.

2 Now we are born a sensual race,
To sinful joys inclin'd;
Reason has lost its native place,
And flesh enslaves the mind.

3 While flesh and sense and passion reigns,
Sin is the sweetest good:
We fancy music in our chains,
And so forget the load.

4 Great God, renew our ruin'd frame,
Our broken powers restore,
Inspire us with a heavenly flame,
And flesh shall reign no more.

5 Eternal Spirit, write thy law
Upon our inward parts,
And let the second Adam draw
His image on our hearts.


Hymn 2:129.
We walk by faith, not by sight.

1 'Tis by the faith of joys to come
We walk thro' deserts dark as night;
Till we arrive at heaven our home,
Faith is our guide, and faith our light.

2 The want of sight she well supplies,
She makes the pearly gates appear;
Far into distant worlds she pries,
And brings eternal glories near.

3 Cheerful we tread the desert thro',
While faith inspires a heavenly ray,
Tho' lions roar, and tempests blow,
And rocks and dangers fill the way.

4 So Abrah'm, by divine command,
Left his own house to walk with God;
His faith beheld the promis'd land,
And fir'd his zeal along the road.


Hymn 2:130.
The new creation.

1 Attend while God's exalted Son
Doth his own glories shew;
"Behold I sit upon my throne
Creating all things new.

2 "Nature and sin are pass'd away,
And the old Adam dies;
"My hands a new foundation lay,
"See the new world arise.

3 "I'll be a sun of righteousness
"To the new-heavens I make;
"None but the new-born heirs of grace
"My glories shall partake."

4 Mighty Redeemer, set me free
From my old state of sin;
O make my soul alive to thee,
Create new powers within.

5 Renew mine eyes, and form mine ears,
And mould my heart afresh;
Give me new passions, joys and fears,
And turn the stone to flesh.

6 Far from the regions of the dead,
From sin, and earth, and hell,
In the new-world that grace has made
I would for ever dwell.
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