Scripture Verse

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. Psalm 1:1

Introduction

portrait
Isaac Watts
1674–1748

Words: Is­aac Watts, The Psalms of Da­vid 1719. The dif­fer­ence be­tween the right­eous and the wick­ed.

Music: St. Se­pul­chre George Coop­er, 1836. First pub­lished in Chope’s Tune Book, 1862 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tune:

If you know where to get a good pic­ture of Coop­er (head-and-shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els), would you ?

Lyrics

Happy the man, whose cautious feet
Shun the broad way that sinners go,
Who hates the place where atheists meet,
And fears to talk as scoffers do.

He loves t’employ the morning light
Amongst the statutes of the Lord;
And spends the wakeful hours of night,
With pleasure pondering o’er the Word.

He, like a plant by gentle streams,
Shall flourish in immortal green;
And Heav’n will shine with kindest beams
On ev’ry work his hands begin.

But sinners find their counsels crossed:
As chaff before the tempest flies,
So shall their hopes be blown and lost,
When the last trumpet shakes the skies.

In vain the rebel seeks to stand
In judgment with the pious race;
The dreadful Judge, with stern command,
Divides him to a different place.

Straight is the way My saints have trod;
I blest the path, and drew it plain;
But you would choose the crooked road,
And down it leads to endless pain.