O 'tis a lovely thing for youth

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O 'tis a lovely thing for youth

Author: Isaac Watts (1715)
Published in 22 hymnals

Representative Text

O ‘tis a lovely thing for youth
To walk betimes in wisdom’s way;
To fear a lie, to speak the truth,
That we may trust to all they say!

But liars we can never trust,
Though they should speak the thing that’s true;
And he that does one fault at first,
And lies to hide it, makes it two.

Have we not known, nor heard, nor read
How God abhors deceit and wrong?
How Ananias was struck dead,
Caught with a lie upon his tongue?

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So did his wife Sapphira die,
When she came in, and grew so bold
As to confirm that wicked lie,
Which just before her husband told.

The Lord delights in them that speak
The words of truth; but every liar
Must have his portion in the lake
That burns with brimstone and with fire.

Then let me always watch my lips,
Lest I be struck to death and hell,
Since God a book of reckoning keeps
For every lie that children tell.

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

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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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