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
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 & shoulders, at least 200×300 pixels),
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.