Doctor Watts's Imitation of the Psalms of David ‎#265

265. God is every where

1 In all my vast concerns with thee,
In vain my soul would try
To shun thy presence, Lord, or flee
The notice of thine eye.

2 Thy all-surrounding sight surveys
My rising and my rest,
My public walks, my private ways,
And secrets of my breast.

3 My thoughts lie open to the Lord
Before they’re form'd within;
And ere my lips pronounce the word,
He knows the sense I mean.

4 Oh wondrous knowledge, deep and high;
Where can a creature hide?
Within thy circling arms I lie,
Enclos'd on every side.

5 So let thy grace surround me still,
And like a bulwark prove,
To guard my soul from every ill,
Secur'd by sovereign love.

Pause.

6 Lord, where shall guilty souls retire
Forgotten and unknown?
In hell they meet thy dreadful fire,
In heaven thy glorious throne.

7 Should I suppress my vital breath
To ’scape the wrath divine,
Thy voice would break the bars of death,
And make the grave resign.

8 If wing'd with beams of morning-light
I fly beyond the west,
Thy hand, which must support my flight,
Would soon betray my rest.

9 If o’er my sins I think to draw
The curtains of the night,
Those flaming eyes that guard thy law
Would turn the shades to light.

10 The beams of moon, the midnight-hour
Are both alike to thee:
Oh may I ne’er provoke that power
From which I cannot flee.

Text Information

• First Line: In all my vast concerns with thee
• Title: God is every where
• Meter: Common Metre
• Language: English
• Publication Date: 1787
• Scripture:
  Psalm 139
• Topic: All-seeing God; Appeal to God: concerning our sincerity; Daily Devotion; Evening Psalm; Evidence: of Sincerity; Examination; Grace: its Evidence, or Self-Examination; Heart known to God; Humility and Submission; Infants; Man: wonderful formation; Mercies: innumerable; Midnight thoughts; Nature of Man; Obedience: sincere; Profession: of Sincerity and Repentance; Self Examination, or Evidences of Grace; Sincerity
• Notes: First Part

Tune Information

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