Scripture Verse

Happy is the man that feareth always. Proverbs 28:14

Introduction

portrait
Philip Doddridge (1702–1751)

Words: Phi­lip Dodd­ridge (1702–1751). Pub­lished post­hu­mous­ly in Hymns Found­ed on Va­ri­ous Texts in the Ho­ly Scrip­tures, by Job Or­ton (Shrop­shire, Eng­land: Jo­shua Ed­dowes & John Cot­ton, 1755), num­ber 79: Walk­ing with God, or be­ing in His fear all the day long.

Music: Devizes Isaac Tucker, 1810 (🔊 pdf nwc) (repeats the last line of each verse).

If you know where to get a good pic­ture of Tucker (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

Thrice hap­py souls, who, born from Hea­ven,
While yet they so­journ here,
Thus all their days with God be­gin,
And spend them in His fear.

So may our eyes, with ho­ly zeal,
Prevent the dawn­ing day,
And turn the sac­red pag­es o’er,
And praise Thy name and pray.

’Midst hour­ly cares, may love pre­sent
Its in­cense to Thy throne;
And, while the world our hands em­ploys,
Our hearts be Thine alone.

As sanc­ti­fied to nob­lest ends,
By each re­fresh­ment sought;
And, by each va­ri­ous pro­vi­dence,
Some wise in­struct­ion brought.

When to la­bo­ri­ous du­ties called,
Or by temp­ta­tions tried,
We’ll seek the shel­ter of Thy wings,
And in Thy strength con­fide.

As dif­fer­ent scenes of life arise,
Our grate­ful hearts would be
With Thee, amidst the so­cial band,
In so­li­tude with Thee.

At night we lean our wea­ry heads
On Thy pa­ter­nal breast;
And, safe­ly fold­ed in Thine arms,
Resign our pow­ers to rest.

In sol­id, pure de­lights, like these,
Let all my days be past;
Nor shall I then im­pa­tient wish,
Nor shall I fear the last.