Lord, I ascribe it to thy grace

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Lord, I ascribe it to thy grace

Author: Isaac Watts (1715)
Published in 18 hymnals

Representative Text

Lord, I ascribe it to thy grace,
And not to chance as others do,
That I was born of Christian race,
And not a heathen, or a Jew.

What would the ancient Jewish kings
And Jewish prophets once have given,
Could they have heard these glorious things
Which Christ reveal’d and brought from heaven!

36
How glad the Heathens would have been,
That worshipp’d idols, wood, and stone,
If they the book of God had seen,
Or Jesus and his gospel known!

Then, if the Gospel I refuse,
How shall I e’er lift up mine eyes?
For all the Gentiles and the Jews
Against me will in judgment rise.

Source: Divine and Moral Songs: attempted in easy language for the use of children with some additional composures #HVI

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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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