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Hymns and Spiritual Songs

Isaac Watts

Section 31 of 42 - Table of Contents
Hymn 2:141.
Faith assisted by sense; or, Preaching,
baptism, and the Lord's Supper.

1 My Saviour-God, my Sovereign-Prince
Reigns far above the skies;
But brings his graces down to sense,
And helps my faith to rise.

2 My eyes and ears shall bless his Name,
They read and hear his word;
My touch and taste shall do the same
When they receive the Lord.

3 Baptismal water is design'd
To seal his cleansing grace;
While at his feast of bread and wine
He gives his saints a place.

4 But not the waters of a flood
Can make my flesh so clean,
As by his Spirit and his blood
He'll wash my soul from sin.

5 Not choicest meats or noblest wines,
So much my heart refresh,
As when my faith goes thro' the signs,
And feeds upon his flesh.

6 I love the Lord, that stoops so low
To give his word a seal;
But the rich grace his hands bestow
Exceeds the figures still.


Hymn 2:142.
Faith in Christ our sacrifice.

1 Not all the blood of beasts
On Jewish altars slain
Could give the guilty conscience peace,
Or wash away the stain.

2 But Christ the heavenly Lamb
Takes all our sins away;
A sacrifice of nobler name
And richer blood than they.

3 My faith would lay her hand
On that dear head of thine,
While like a penitent I stand
And there confess my sin.

4 My soul looks back to see
The burdens thou didst bear
When hanging on the cursed tree,
And hopes her guilt was there.

5 Believing we rejoice
To see the curse remove;
We bless the Lamb with cheerful voice,
And sing his bleeding love.


Hymn 2:143.
Flesh and spirit.

1 What different powers of grace and sin
Attend our mortal state!
I hate the thoughts that work within,
And do the works I hate.

2 Now I complain, and groan, and die,
While sin and Satan reign:
Now raise my songs of triumph high,
For grace prevails again.

3 So darkness struggles with the light
Till perfect day arise;
Water and fire maintain the fight
Until the weaker dies.

4 Thus will the flesh and spirit strive,
And vex and break my peace;
But I shall quit this mortal life,
And sin for ever cease.


Hymn 2:144.
The effusion of the Spirit; or,
The success of the gospel.

1 Great was the day, the joy was great,
When the divine disciples met;
Whilst on their heads the Spirit came,
And sat like tongues of cloven flame.

2 What gifts, what miracles he gave!
And power to kill, and power to save!
Furnish'd their tongues with wondrous words,
Instead of shields, and spears, and swords.

3 Thus arm'd, he sent the champions forth
From east to west, from south to north;
"Go, and assert your Saviour's cause,
"Go, spread the mystery of his cross."

4 These weapons of the holy war,
Of what almighty force they are
To make our stubborn passions bow,
And lay the proudest rebel low!

5 Nations, the learned and the rude,
Are by these heavenly arms subdu'd;
While Satan rages at his loss,
And hates the doctrine of the cross.

6 Great King of Grace, my heart subdue,
I would be led in triumph too,
A willing captive to my Lord,
And sing the victories of his word.


Hymn 2:145.
Sight through a glass, and face to face.

1 I love the windows of thy grace
Thro' which my Lord is seen,
And long to meet my Saviour's face
Without a glass between.

2 O, that the happy hour were come
To change my faith to sight!
I shall behold my Lord at home
In a diviner light.

3 Haste, my beloved, and remove
These interposing days:
Then shall my passions all be love,
And all my powers be praise.


Hymn 2:146.
The vanity of creatures;
or, No rest on earth.

1 Man has a soul of vast desires,
He burns within with restless fires;
Tost to and fro, his passions fly
From vanity to vanity.

2 In vain on earth we hope to find
Some solid good to fill the mind,
We try new pleasures, but we feel
The inward thirst and torment still.

3 So when a raging fever burns
We shift from side to side by turns,
And 'tis a poor relief we gain
To change the place, but keep the pain.

4 Great God, subdue this vicious thirst,
This love to vanity and dust;
Cure the vile fever of the mind,
And feed our souls with joys refin'd.


Hymn 2:147.
The creation of the world, Gen. 1.

1 "Now let a spacious world arise,"
Said the Creator-Lord:
At once the obedient earth and skies
Rose at his sovereign word.

2 [Dark was the deep; the waters lay
Confus'd and drown'd the land:
He call'd the light; the new-born day
Attends on his command.

3 He bids the clouds ascend on high;
The clouds ascend and bear
A watery treasure to the sky,
And float on softer air.

4 The liquid element below
Was gather'd by his hand;
The rolling seas together flow,
And leave the solid land.

5 With herbs and plants, a flowery birth,
The naked globe he crown'd,
Ere there was rain to bless the earth,
Or sun to warm the ground.

6 Then he adorn'd the upper skies;
Behold the sun appears,
The moon and stars in order rise
To make our months and years,

7 Out of the deep th' almighty King
Did vital beings frame;
The painted fowls of every wing,
And fish of every name.]

8 He gave the lion and the worm
At once their wondrous birth;
And grazing beasts of various form,
Rose from the teeming earth.

9 Adam was fram'd of equal clay,
Tho' sovereign of the rest,
Design'd for nobler ends than they,
With God's own image bless'd.

10 Thus glorious in the Maker's eye
The young creation stood;
He saw the building from on high,
His word pronounc'd it good.

11 Lord, while the frame of nature stands,
Thy praise shall fill my tongue;
But the new world of grace demands
A more exalted song.


Hymn 2:148.
God reconciled in Christ.

1 Dearest of all the names above
My Jesus, and my God,
Who can resist thy heavenly love,
Or trifle with thy blood?

2 'Tis by the merits of thy death
The Father smiles again;
'Tis by thine interceding breath
The Spirit dwells with men.

3 Till God in human flesh I see,
My thoughts no comfort find;
The holy, just, and sacred Three
Are terrors to my mind.

4 But if Immanuel's face appear,
My hope, my joy, begins;
His Name forbids my slavish fear,
His grace removes my sins.

5 While Jews on their own law rely,
And Greeks of wisdom boast,
I love th' incarnate mystery,
And there I fix my trust.


Hymn 2:149.
Honour to Magistrates; or,
Government from God.

1 Eternal Sovereign of the sky,
And Lord of all below,
We mortals to thy majesty
Our first obedience owe.

2 Our souls adore thy throne supreme,
And bless thy providence
For magistrates of meaner name,
Our glory and defence.

3 [The crowns of British princes shine
With rays above the rest,
Where laws and liberties combine
To make the nation bless'd.]

4 Kingdoms on firm foundations stand,
While virtue finds reward;
And sinners perish from the land
By justice and the sword.

5 Let Cesar's due be ever paid
To Cesar and his throne;
But consciences and souls were made
To be the Lord's alone.


Hymn 2:150.
The deceitfulness of sin.

1 Sin has a thousand treacherous arts
To practise on the mind;
With flattering looks she tempts our hearts
But leaves a sting behind.

2 With names of virtue she deceives
The aged and the young;
And while the heedless wretch believes,
She makes his fetters strong.

3 She pleads for all the joys she brings,
And gives a fair pretence;
But cheats the soul of heavenly things,
And chains it down to sense.

4 So on a tree divinely fair
Grew the forbidden food;
Our mother took the poison there,
And tainted all her blood.
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