The Cyber Hymnal ‎#6523

6523. Through Every Age, Eternal God

1. Through every age, eternal God,
Thou art our rest, our safe abode;
High was Thy throne ere Heav’n was made,
Or earth Thy humble footstool laid.

2. Long hadst Thou reigned ere time began,
Or dust was fashioned to a man;
And long Thy kingdom shall endure
When earth and time shall be no more.

3. But man, weak man, is born to die,
Made up of guilt and vanity;
Thy dreadful sentence, Lord, was just,
Return, ye sinners, to your dust.

4. A thousand of our years amount
Scarce to a day in Thine account;
Like yesterday’s departed light,
Or the last watch of ending night.

5. Death, like an overflowing stream,
Sweeps us away; our life’s a dream,
An empty tale, a morning flower,
Cut down and withered in an hour.

6. Our age to seventy years is set;
How short the time! how frail the state!
And if to eighty we arrive,
We rather sigh and groan than live.

7. But O how oft Thy wrath appears,
And cuts off our expected years!
Thy wrath awakes our humble dread;
We fear the power that strikes us dead.

8. Teach us, O Lord, how frail is man;
And kindly lengthen out our span,
Till a wise care of piety
Fit us to die, and dwell with Thee.

Text Information

• First Line: Through every age, eternal God
• Title: Through Every Age, Eternal God
• Author: Isaac Watts (1719)
• Meter: LM
• Language: English
• Source: The Psalms of David, 1719
• Copyright: Public Domain

Tune Information

• Name: AMANDA
• Composer (attributed to): Justin Morgan, 1747-1798
• Meter: LM
• Incipit: 15434 53217 15715
• Key: a minor
• Source: New Jersey Harmony, 1787
• Copyright: Public Domain