Praise to God, or Communion with Saints

Representative Text

To God the great, the ever blessed,
let songs of honor be addressed;
all mercy, God, comes from your hands!
I give the thanks your love demands.

Who knows the wonders of your ways?
Lord, I would sing your boundless praise!
How blest are all who love you still,
remaining faithful to your will.

O, may I see your saints rejoice,
and aid their triumphs with my voice!
This is my glory, Lord above,
to still be faithful to your love.


Source: In Melody and Songs: hymns from the Psalm versions of Isaac Watts #63

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 >

Text Information

First Line: To God, the great, the ever-blest
Title: Praise to God, or Communion with Saints
Author: Isaac Watts
Meter: 8.8.8.8
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Tune

OLD HUNDREDTH

This tune is likely the work of the composer named here, but has also been attributed to others as shown in the instances list below. According to the Handbook to the Baptist Hymnal (1992), Old 100th first appeared in the Genevan Psalter, and "the first half of the tune contains phrases which may ha…

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TRURO (Williams)

TRURO is an anonymous tune, first published in Thomas Williams's Psalmodia Evangelica, (second vol., 1789) as a setting for Isaac Watts' "Now to the Lord a noble song." Virtually nothing is known about this eighteenth-century British editor of the two-volume Psalmodia Evangelica, a collection of thr…

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HEBRON (Mason)


Timeline

Media

The Cyber Hymnal #6570
  • Adobe Acrobat image (PDF)
  • Noteworthy Composer score (NWC)
  • XML score (XML)

Instances

Instances (1 - 3 of 3)
Text

In Melody and Songs #63

TextScoreAudio

The Cyber Hymnal #6570

Text

The Harmonia Sacra #53

Include 83 pre-1979 instances
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