Scripture Verse

The word of the Lord was precious in those days. 1 Samuel 3:1

Introduction

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Isaac Watts (1674–1748)

Words: Is­aac Watts, The Psalms of Da­vid 1719 (orig­in­al­ly, I Love the Vol­umes of Thy Word). Pub­lished in al­tered form in Car­mi­na Sac­ra (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: John H. Wil­kins & Ri­chard B. Car­ter, 1844), page 84.

Music: High­ton, ar­ranged from Fried­rich Sil­cher by Lo­well Ma­son, in Car­mi­na Sac­ra (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: John H. Wil­kins & Ri­chard B. Car­ter, 1844) (🔊 pdf nwc).

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Lowell Mason (1792–1872)

Lyrics

How pre­cious, Lord, Thy sac­red Word,
What light and joy those leaves af­ford
To souls in deep dis­tress!
Thy pre­cepts guide our doubt­ful way,
Thy fear for­bids our feet to stray,
Thy pro­mise leads to rest.

Thy threat­en­ings wake our slum­ber­ing eyes,
And warn us where our dan­ger lies;
But ’tis Thy Gos­pel, Lord,
That makes the guil­ty con­science clean,
Converts the soul, and con­quers sin,
And gives a free re­ward.