Since my youth, O God, You have taught me, and to this day I declare Your marvelous deeds.
Psalm 71:17
Words: Isaac Watts, The Psalms of David 1719. The aged Christian’s prayer and song; or, old age, death and the resurrection.
Music: Armenia Sylvanus B. Pond, in The Musical Miscellany, edited by Thomas Hastings & Ezra Collier (New York: 1836) (🔊 pdf nwc).
If you know where to get a good photo of Pond (head & shoulders, at least 200×300 pixels),
God of my childhood and my youth,
The guide of all my days,
I have declared Thy heavenly truth,
And told Thy wondrous ways.
Wilt Thou forsake my hoary hairs,
And leave my fainting heart?
Who shall sustain my sinking years,
If God my strength depart?
Let me Thy power and truth proclaim
To the surviving age;
And leave a savor of Thy name
When I shall quit the stage.
The land of silence and of death
Attends my next remove;
O may these poor remains of breath
Teach the wide world Thy love!
Thy righteousness is deep and high,
Unsearchable Thy deeds;
Thy glory spreads beyond the sky,
And all my praise exceeds.
Oft have I heard Thy threatenings roar,
And oft endured the grief;
But when Thy hand has pressed me sore,
Thy grace was my relief.
By long experience I have known
Thy sovereign power to save;
At Thy command I venture down
Securely to the grave.
When I lie buried deep in dust,
My flesh shall be Thy care;
These withering limbs with Thee I trust,
To raise them strong and fair.