Psalm 106 - Metrical | Hymnary.org

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God of eternal love, How fickle are our ways

Author: Isaac Watts
Tune: [The Church of God is one]
Published in 41 hymnals

Printable scores: PDF, Noteworthy Composer

Representative Text

1 God of eternal love,
How fickle are our ways!
And yet how oft did Israel prove
Thy constancy and grace!

2 [They saw thy wonders wrought,
And then thy praise they sung;
But soon thy works of power forgot,
And murmured with their tongue.]

3 Now they believe his word,
While rocks with rivers flow;
Now with their lusts provoke the Lord,
And he reduced them low.

4 Yet, when they mourned their faults,
He hearkened to their groans,
Brought his own covenant to his thoughts,
And called them still his sons.

5 [Their names were in his book;
He saved them from their foes;
Oft he chastised, but ne’er forsook
The people that he chose.]

6 Let Israel bless the Lord,
Who loved their ancient race;
And Christians join the solemn word,
Amen, to all the praise.

Source: A Selection of Hymns for Public Worship. In four parts (10th ed.) (Gadsby's Hymns) #318

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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:	God of eternal love, How fickle are our ways
Title:	Psalm 106 - Metrical
Author:	Isaac Watts
Meter:	6.6.8.6
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

Psalm 106
(hymns)

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Notes

God of eternal love. I. Waits. [Psalm cvi.; God's love to Israel.] First published in his Psalms of David, &c, 1719, in 6 stanzas of 4 lines, and entitled, "Israel punish'd and pardon'd; or, God's unchanging love.” In a note he says:—

"The chief design of this whole Psalm I have ex¬pressed in the Title, and abridged it in this form, having enlarged much more on this same subject in the 77th, 78th, and 105th Psalms.
"Though the Jews now seem to be cast off, yet the Apostle Paul assures us that 'God hath not cast away His people whom He foreknew,' Rom. xi. 2. Their unbelief and absence from God is but for a season, for they shall be recalled again; v. 25, 26."

The use of this hymn is not extensive. Original text in Spurgeon's Our Own Hymn Book, 1866.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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