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Hymns and Spiritual Songs

Isaac Watts

Section 36 of 42 - Table of Contents
Hymn 3:21.
The triumphal feast for Christ's victory
over sin, and death, and hell.

1 [Come let us lift our voices high,
High as our joys arise,
And join the songs above the sky,
Where pleasure never dies.

2 Jesus, the God that fought and bled,
And conquer'd when he fell;
That rose, and at his chariot-wheels
Dragg'd all the powers of hell.]

3 [Jesus the God invites us here
To this triumphal feast,
And brings immortal blessings down
For each redeemed guest.]

4 The Lord! how glorious is his face!
How kind his smiles appear!
And O what melting words he says
To every humble ear!

5 "For you, the children of my love,
"It was for you I dy'd;
"Behold my hands, behold my feet,
"And look into my side.

6 "These are the wounds for you I bore,
"The tokens of my pains,
"When I came down to free your souls
"From misery and chains.

7 "Justice unsheath'd its fiery sword,
And plung'd it in my heart;
"Infinite pangs for you I bore,
"And most tormenting smart.

8 "When hell and all its spiteful powers
"Stood dreadful in my way,
"To rescue those dear lives of yours
"I gave my own away.

9 "But while I bled, and groan'd, and dy'd,
"I ruin'd Satan's throne;
"High on my cross I hung, and spy'd
"The monster tumbling down.

10 "Now you must triumph at my feast,
"And taste my flesh, my blood;
"And live eternal ages bless'd,
"For 'tis immortal food."

11 Victorious God! what can we pay
For favours so divine?
We would devote our hearts away
To be for ever thine.

12 We give thee, Lord, our highest praise,
The tribute of our tongues;
But themes so infinite as these
Exceed our noblest songs.


Hymn 3:22.
The compassion of a dying Christ.

1 Our spirits join t' adore the Lamb;
O that our feeble lips could move
In strains immortal as his Name,
And melting as his dying love.

2 Was ever equal pity found?
The Prince of heaven resigns his breath,
And pours his life out on the ground
To ransom guilty worms from death.

3 [Rebels, we broke our Maker's laws;
He from the threatening set us free,
Bore the full vengeance on his cross,
And nail'd the curses to the tree.]

4 [The law proclaims no terror now,
And Sinai's thunder roars no more;
From all his wounds new blessings flow,
A sea of joy without a shore.

5 Here we have wash'd our deepest stains,
And heal'd our wounds with heavenly blood:
Bless'd fountain! springing from the veins
Of Jesus, our incarnate God.]

6 In vain our mortal voices strive
To speak compassion so divine;
Had we a thousand lives to give,
A thousand lives should all be thine.


Hymn 3:23.
Grace and glory by the death of Christ.

1 [Sitting around our Father's board
We raise our tuneful breath;
Our faith beholds her dying Lord,
And dooms our sins to death.]

2 We see the blood of Jesus shed,
Whence all our pardons rise;
The sinner views th' atonement made,
And loves the sacrifice.

3 Thy cruel thorns, thy shameful cross
Procure us heavenly crowns;
Our highest gain springs from thy loss,
Our healing from thy wounds.

4 O 'tis impossible that we,
Who dwell in feeble clay,
Should equal sufferings bear for thee,
Or equal thanks repay.


Hymn 3:24.
Pardon and strength from Christ.

1 Father, we wait to feel thy grace,
To see thy glories shine;
The Lord will his own table bless,
And make the feast divine.

2 We touch, we taste the heavenly bread,
We drink the sacred Cup;
With outward forms our sense is fed,
Our souls rejoice in hope.

3 We shall appear before the throne
Of our forgiving God,
Dress'd in the garments of his Son,
And sprinkled with his blood.

4 We shall be strong to run the race,
And climb the upper sky;
Christ will provide our souls with grace,
He bought a large supply.

5 [Let us indulge a cheerful frame,
For joy becomes a feast;
We love the memory of his Name,
More than the wine we taste.]


Hymn 3:25.
Divine glories, and our graces.

1 How are thy glories here display'd,
Great God, how bright they shine,
While at thy word we break the bread,
And pour the flowing wine!

2 Here thy revenging justice stands
And pleads its dreadful cause;
Here saving mercy spreads her hands
Like Jesus on the cross.

3 Thy saints attend with every grace
On this great sacrifice;
And love appears with cheerful face,
And faith with fixed eyes.

4 Our hope in waiting posture sits,
To heaven directs her sight;
Here every warmer passion meets,
And warmer powers unite.

5 Zeal and revenge perform their part,
And rising sin destroy;
Repentance comes with aching heart,
Yet not forbids the joy.

6 Dear Saviour, change our faith to sight,
Let sin for ever die;
Then shall our souls be all delight,
And every tear be dry.


******

I cannot persuade myself to put a full period to these Divine
Hymns, till I have addressed a special song of glory to God the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Though the Latin name of it,
Gloria Patri, be retained in our nation from the Romish church;
and thought there may be some excesses of superstitious honour paid
to the words of it, which may have wrought some unhappy prejudices
in weaker Christians, yet I believe it still to be one of the
noblest parts of Christian worship. The subject of it is the
doctrine of the Trinity, which is that peculiar glory of the Divine
Nature, that our Lord Jesus Christ has so clearly revealed unto
men, and is so necessary to true Christianity. The action is praise,
which is one of the most complete and exalted parts of heavenly
worship. I have cast the song into a variety of forms, and have
fitted it to a plain version, or a larger paraphrase, to be sung
either alone, or at the conclusion of another Hymn. I have added
also a few hosannas, or ascriptions of salvation to Christ, in the
same manner, and for the same end.



Doxologies.


Hymn 3:26. 1st. L.M.
A song of praise to the ever-blessed Trinity,
God in Father, Son, and Spirit.

1 Bless'd be the Father and his love:
To whose celestial source we owe
Rivers of endless joy above,
And rills of comfort here below.

2 Glory to thee, great Son of God,
From whose dear wounded body rolls
A precious stream of vital blood,
Pardon and life for dying souls.

3 We give the sacred Spirit praise,
Who in our hearts of sin and woe
Makes living springs of grace arise,
And into boundless glory flow.

4 Thus God the Father, God the Son,
And God the Spirit, we adore;
That sea of life and love unknown,
Without a bottom or a shore.


Hymn 3:27. 1st. C. M.

1 Glory to God the Father's Name,
Who, from our sinful race,
Chose out his favourites to proclaim
The honours of his grace.

2 Glory to God the Son be paid,
Who dwelt in humble clay,
And, to redeem us from the dead,
Gave his own life away.

3 Glory to God the Spirit give,
From whose almighty power
Our souls their heavenly birth derive,
And bless the happy hour.

4 Glory to God that reigns above,
Th' eternal Three and One,
Who by the wonders of his love
Has made his nature known.


Hymn 3:28. 1st. S. M.

1 Let God the Father live
For ever on our tongues;
Sinners from his first love derive
The ground of all their songs.

2 Ye saints, employ your breath
In honour to the Son,
Who bought your souls from hell and death
By offering up his own.

3 Give to the Spirit praise
Of an immortal strain,
Whose light and power and grace conveys
Salvation down to men.

4 While God the Comforter
Reveals our pardon'd sin,
O may the blood and water bear
The same record within.

5 To the great One and Three
That seal this grace in heaven,
The Father, Son, and Spirit, be
Eternal glory given.


Hymn 3:29. 2d. L.M.

1 Glory to God the Trinity
Whose name has mysteries unknown;
In essence One, in person Three;
A social nature, yet alone.

2 When all our noblest powers are join'd
The honours of thy Name to raise,
Thy glories over-match our mind,
And angels faint beneath the praise.


Hymn 3:30. 2d. C. M

1 The God of mercy be ador'd,
Who calls our souls from death,
Who saves by his redeeming word,
And new-creating breath.

2 To praise the Father and the Son
And Spirit all divine,
The One in Three, and Three in One,
Let saints and angels join.
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