The Faithfulness of God

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Begin, my tongue, some heavenly theme

Author: Isaac Watts (1707)
Tune: MANOAH (Greatorex)
Published in 297 hymnals

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Audio files: MIDI

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Representative Text

1 Begin, my soul, some heavenly theme,
awake, my voice, and sing
the mighty works, or mightier name,
Of our eternal King.

2 Tell of his wondrous faithfulness,
And sound his power abroad;
sing the sweet promise of his grace,
the quickening word of God.

3 Engraved as in eternal brass,
the mighty promise shines;
nor can the powers of darkness rase
those everlasting lines.

4 His every word of grace is strong,
as that which built the skies;
the voice that rolls the stars along
speaks all the promises.

5 Now shall my fainting heart rejoice
to know thy favour sure:
I trust the all-creating voice,
and faith desires no more.

Source: Common Praise: A new edition of Hymns Ancient and Modern #388

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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 >

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First Line:	Begin, my tongue, some heavenly theme
Title:	The Faithfulness of God
Author:	Isaac Watts (1707)
Meter:	8.6.8.6
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

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Notes

Begin, my tongue [soul], some heavenly theme. I. Watts. [Faithfulness of God.] First published in his Hymns and Spiritual Songs, 1707 (2nd edition, 1709, Book ii., No. 169), in 9 stanzas of 4 lines, and entitled "The faithfulness of God in His promises." In 1776, Toplady included it, in an altered and abbreviated form, in his Psalms and Hymns, No. 388, as "Begin, my soul, some heavenly theme." This form of the hymn has been repeated in many collections, sometimes verbatim from Toplady, and again, with further alterations, as in the Wesleyan Hymn Book, 1830, and revised edition, 1875. Its use in America, usually abbreviated, is much more extensive than in Great Britain.

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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Tune

MANOAH (Greatorex)

MANOAH was first published in Henry W. Greatorex's Collection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes (1851). This anthology (later editions had alternate titles) contained one of the best tune collections of its era and included thirty-seven original compositions and arrangements by compiler Greatorex as well as m…

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