Awake my zeal, awake my love

Top Media Text Author Text Info Notes Tune Timeline Page Scans Instances

Awake my zeal, awake my love

Author: Isaac Watts
Tune: BROOKFIELD (Southgate)
Published in 19 hymnals

Printable scores: PDF, MusicXML
Audio files: MIDI

Representative Text

1 Awake my zeal, awake my love,
And serve my Saviour here below,
In works which all the saints above,
Which holy angels cannot do.

2 My faith and hope may see the Lord,
Though veils of darkness lie between;
Hope shall rest firm upon his word,
And faith rejoice in things unseen.

3 Awake my charity, and feed
The hungry soul and clothe the poor;
In heaven are found no sons of need,
There all these duties are no more.

4 Subdue thy passions, O my soul
Maintain the fight, the work pursue,
Daily thy rising sins control,
And be thy victories ever new.

5 The land of triumph lies on high,
There are no fields of battle there,
Lord I would conquer till I die,
And finish all the glorious war.

6 Let every flying hour confess
I gain thy gospel fresh renown;
And when my life and labors cease,
May I possess the promised crown.

The Christian's duty, exhibited in a series of hymns, 1801

All representative texts • Compare texts ^ top

Author: Isaac Watts

Isaac Watts was the son of a schoolmaster, and was born in Southampton, July 17, 1674. He is said to have shown remarkable precocity in childhood, beginning the study of Latin, in his fourth year, and writing respectable verses at the age of seven. At the age of sixteen, he went to London to study in the Academy of the Rev. Thomas Rowe, an Independent minister. In 1698, he became assistant minister of the Independent Church, Berry St., London. In 1702, he became pastor. In 1712, he accepted an invitation to visit Sir Thomas Abney, at his residence of Abney Park, and at Sir Thomas' pressing request, made it his home for the remainder of his life. It was a residence most favourable for his health, and for the prosecution of his literary… Go to person page >

^ top

First Line:	Awake my zeal, awake my love
Author:	Isaac Watts
Meter:	8.8.8.8
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

Isaiah 38:18-19
(hymns)

^ top

Notes

Awake, my zeal, awake, my love. I. Watts. [Personal call to duty.] This may be called a metrical paraphrase of his sermon on i. Cor. iii. 22, "Whether Life or Death-All are yours.” It was appended with other hymns, to his Sermons, 1721-4, in 6 stanzas of 8 lines, and is repeated in later editions. Its use is limited. In Halls Mitre, 1836, it was given as "Awake our zeal, awake our love," in 4 stanzas. This also has almost passed out of use.

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

^ top