Scripture Verse

I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. Psalm 84:10

Introduction

portrait
Isaac Watts
1674–1748

Words: Is­aac Watts, The Psalms of Da­vid 1719. De­light in or­di­nanc­es of wor­ship; or, God pre­sent in His church­es.

Music: Mon­son Sam­u­el R. Brown (1810–1880). Ar­ranged by Tho­mas Hast­ings, 1838 (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
Thomas Hastings
1784–1872

Lyrics

My soul, how lovely is the place
To which thy God resorts!
’Tis Heav’n to see His smiling face,
Though in His earthly courts.

There the great Monarch of the skies
His saving power displays,
And light breaks in upon our eyes
With kind and quickening rays.

With His rich gifts the heav’nly Dove
Descends and fills the place,
While Christ reveals His wondrous love,
And sheds abroad His grace.

There, mighty God, Thy words declare
The secrets of Thy will;
And still we seek Thy mercy there,
And sing Thy praises still.

My heart and flesh cry out for Thee,
While far from Thine abode;
When shall I tread Thy courts, and see
My Savior and my God?

The sparrow builds herself a nest,
And suffers no remove;
O make me, like the sparrows, blest,
To dwell but where I love.

To sit one day beneath Thine eye,
And hear Thy gracious voice,
Exceeds a whole eternity
Employed in carnal joys.

Lord, at Thy threshold I would wait
While Jesus is within,
Rather than fill a throne of state,
Or live in tents of sin.

Could I command the spacious land,
And the more boundless sea,
For one blest hour at Thy right hand
I’d give them both away.