Psalm 107
Words: Isaac Watts
PART 1. Israel led to Canaan, and Christians to heaven.
1 Give thanks to God; he reigns above;
Kind are his thoughts, his name is Love;
His mercy ages past have known,
And ages long to come shall own.
2 Let the redeem-ed of the Lord
The wonders of his grace record;
Isr'el, the nation whom he chose,
And rescued from their mighty foes.
3 When God's almighty arm had broke
Their fetters and th' Egyptian yoke,
They traced the desert, wand'ring round
A wild and solitary ground.
4 There they could find no leading road,
Nor city for a fixed abode;
Nor food, nor fountain, to assuage
Their burning thirst or hunger's rage.
5 In their distress, to God they cried
God was their Saviour and their Guide;
He led their march far wand'ring round,-
'Twas the right path to Canaan's ground.
6 Thus, when our first release we gain
From sin's old yoke, and Satan's chain,
We have this desert world to pass,
A dangerous and a tiresome place.
7 He feeds and clothes us all the way,
He guides our footsteps lest we stray,
He guards us with a powerful hand,
And brings us to the heav'nly land.
8 O let the saints with joy record
The truth and goodness of the Lord!
How great his works! how kind his ways
Let every tongue pronounce his praise. PART 2. Correction for sin, and release by prayer.
1 From age to age exalt his name;
God and his grace are still the same
he fills the hungry soul with food,
And feeds the poor with every good.
2 But if their hearts rebel and rise
Against the God that rules the skies
If they reject his heav'nly word,
And slight the counsels of the Lord
3 He'll bring their spirits to the ground,
And no deliv'rer shall be found;
Laden with grief, they waste their breath
In darkness and the shades of death.
4 Then to the Lord they raise their cries;
He makes the dawning light arise,
And scatters all that dismal shade
That hung so heavy round their head.
5 He cuts the bars of brass in two,
And lets the smiling pris'ners through
Takes off the load of guilt and grief,
And gives the lab'ring soul relief.
6 O may the sons of men record
The wondrous goodness of the Lord
How great his works! how kind his ways!
Let ev'ry tongue pronounce his praise.
PART 3.
Intemperance punished and pardoned. 1 Vain man, on foolish pleasures bent,
prepares for his own punishment;
What pains, what loathsome maladies,
From luxury and lust arise!
2 The drunkard feels his vitals waste,
Yet drowns his health to please his taste;
Till all his active powers are lost,
And fainting life draws near the dust.
3 The glutton groans, and loathes to eat,
His soul abhors delicious meat
Nature, with heavy loads oppressed,
Would yield to death to be released.
4 Then how the frightened sinners fly
To God for help with earnest cry!
He hears their groans, prolongs their breath,
And saves them from approaching death.
5 No med'cines could effect the cure
So quick, so easy, or so sure;
the deadly sentence God repeals,
He sends his sovereign word, and heals.
6 O may the sons of men record
The wondrous goodness of the Lord!
And let their thankful off'rings prove
How they adore their Maker's love PART 4. Deliverance from storms and shipwreck; or, The seaman's song.
1 Would you behold the works of God,
is wonders in the world abroad,
Go with the mariners, and trace
The unknown regions of the seas.
2 They leave their native shores behind,
And seize the favor of the wind;
Till God command, and tempests rise
That heave the ocean to the skies.
3 Now to the heav'ns they mount amain,
Now sink to dreadful deeps again;
What strange affrights young sailors feel,
And like a stagg'ring drunkard reel!
4 When land is far, and death is nigh,
Lost to all hope, to God they cry;
His mercy hears the loud address,
And sends salvation in distress.
5 He bids the winds their wrath assuage,
The furious waves forget their rage;
'Tis calm, and sailors smile to see
The haven where they wished to be.
6 O may the sons of men record
The wondrous goodness of the Lord!
Let them their private off'rings bring,
And in the church his glory sing.PART 4. Watts subtitle: The mariner's Psalm. (NOTE: this a is C.M. version of the previous selection.)
1 Thy works of glory, mighty Lord,
Thy wonders in the deeps,
The sons of courage shall record
Who trade in floating ships.
2 At thy command the winds arise,
And swell the towering waves;
The men astonished mount the skies,
And sink in gaping graves.
3 Again they climb the wat'ry hills,
And plunge in deeps again;
Each like a tott'ring drunkard reels,
And finds his courage vain.
4 Frightened to hear the tempest roar,
They pant with flutt'ring breath;
And hopeless of the distant shore,
Expect immediate death.
5 Then to the Lord they raise their cries;
He hears the loud request,
And orders silence through the skies,
And lays the floods to rest.
6 Sailors rejoice to lose their fears,
And see the storm allayed:
Now to their eyes the port appears;
There let their vows be paid.
7 'Tis God that brings them safe to land;
Let stupid mortals know
That waves are under his command,
And all the winds that blow. 8 O that the sons of men would praise
The goodness of the Lord!
And those that see thy wondrous ways,
Thy wondrous love record. LAST PART. (L. M.) Nations Blessed and punished. A Psalm for New England.
1 When God, provoked with daring crimes
Scourges the madness of the times,
He turns their fields to barren sand,
And dries the rivers from. the land.
2 His word can raise the springs again,
And make the withered mountains green;
Send showery blessings from the skies,
And harvests in the desert rise.
3 Where nothing dwelt but beasts of prey,
Or men as fierce and wild as they,
He bids th' oppressed and poor repair,
And builds them towns and cities there.
4 They sow the fields, and trees they plant,
Whose yearly fruit supplies their want;
Their race grows up from fruitful stocks,
Their wealth increases with their flocks.
5 Thus they are blessed; but if they sin,
He lets the heathen nations in;
A savage crew invades their lands,
Their princes die by barb'rous hands.
6 Their captive sons, exposed to scorn,
Wander un-pitied and forlorn
The country lies unfenced, untilled,
And desolation spreads the field.
7 Yet if the humbled nation mourns,
Again his dreadful hand he turns;
Again he makes their cities thrive
And bids the dying churches live.
8 The righteous, with a joyful sense,
Admire the works of Providence;
And tongues of atheists shall no more
Blaspheme the God that saints adore.
9 How few with pious care record
These wondrous dealings of the Lord!
But wise observers still shall find
The Lord is holy, just, and kind.
