Scripture Verse

He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against Him, and hath prospered? Job 9:4

Introduction

portrait
Philip Doddridge
(1702–1751)

Words: Phi­lip Dodd­ridge (1702–1751). Pub­lished post­hu­mous­ly in Hymns Found­ed on Va­ri­ous Texts in the Ho­ly Scrip­tures, by Job Or­ton (Shrop­shire, Eng­land: Jo­shua Ed­dowes & John Cot­ton, 1755), num­ber 26: The im­pos­si­bi­li­ty of pros­per­ing while we hard­en our­selves against God.

Music: Ari­zo­na Ro­bert H. Earn­shaw, in The Book of Praise (To­ron­to, On­tar­io: Ox­ford Uni­ver­si­ty Press, 1918) (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Earn­shaw (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

The great Je­ho­vah! Who shall dare
With Him at­tempt un­eq­ual war?
What heart of steel shall dare t’op­pose,
And league among His hard­ened foes?

At His com­mand the light­nings dart,
And swift trans­fix the re­bel heart;
Earth trem­bles at His look, and cleaves,
And le­gions sink in liv­ing graves.

Where are the haugh­ty mon­archs now,
Who scorned His word with low­er­ing brow?
Where are the tro­phies of their reigns?
Or where the ru­in’s last re­mains?

See Pha­raoh sink­ing in the tide!
See Ba­bel’s ty­rant, mad with pride,
Graze with the beasts! Hear He­rod roar,
While worms his de­ity de­vour!

See, from the tur­rets of the skies,
Tall che­rubs sink, no more to rise;
And trace their rank on thrones of light,
By hea­vi­er chains, and dark­er night.

Great God! and shall this soul of mine
Presume to chal­lenge wrath di­vine?
Trembling I seek Thy mer­cy-seat,
And lay my wea­pons at Thy feet.

illustration
Egyptian Temple
Marc-Charles-Gabriel Gleyre, 1840