Scripture Verse

God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed Heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds. Hebrews 1:1

Introduction

portrait
Isaac Watts (1674–1748)

Words: Is­aac Watts, Hymns and Spi­ri­tu­al Songs, Book 1, 1707, num­ber 53. The Ho­ly Scri­ptures.

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

Alternate Tune:

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

Lyrics

God, who in va­ri­ous me­thods told
His mind and will to saints of old,
Sent down His Son, with truth and grace,
To teach us in these lat­ter days.

Our na­tion reads the writ­ten Word,
That book of life, that sure re­cord:
The bright in­her­it­ance of Heav’n
Is by the sweet con­vey­ance giv’n.

God’s kind­est thoughts are here ex­pressed,
Able to make us wise and blessed;
The doc­trines are di­vine­ly true,
Fit for re­proof and com­fort, too.

Ye Bri­tish isles, who read His love
In long epis­tles from above,
(He hath not sent His sa­cred Word
To ev­ery land) praise ye the Lord.