Scripture Verse

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Colossians 3:2

Introduction

portrait
Isaac Watts
1674–1748

Words: Is­aac Watts, Hymns and Sac­red Songs, 1707–09, Volume 2, num­ber 11. Part­ing with car­nal joys.

Music: Ber­lin (Har­mon­ia), from Har­mon­ia Sacra, by Jo­seph Funk (1778–1862) (🔊 pdf nwc).

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

Lyrics

I send the joys of earth away,
Away, ye tempters of the mind;
False as the smooth, deceitful sea,
And empty as the whistling wind.

Your streams were floating me along
Down the gulf of dark despair;
And whilst I listened to your song,
Your streams had e’en conveyed me there.

Lord, I adore Thy matchless grace,
That warned me of that dark abyss,
That drew me from those treacherous seas,
And bade me seek superior bliss.

Now to the shining realms above
I stretch my hands and glance my eyes;
O for the pinions of a dove,
To bear me to the upper skies!

There from the bosom of my God
Oceans of endless pleasure roll;
There would I fix my last abode,
And drown the sorrows of my soul.