Scripture Verse

God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear, and it was so. Genesis 1:9

Introduction

portrait
Isaac Williams (1802–1865)

Words: Charles Cof­fin, Hym­ni Sac­ri, 1736 (Jubes: et, in prae­ceps aquis). Trans­lat­ed from La­tin to Eng­lish by Is­aac Will­iams (The Word Is Gi­ven, the Wa­ters Flow) & the com­pil­ers of Hymns An­cient and Mo­dern.

Music: Lin­coln (Ra­vens­croft) Tho­mas Ra­vens­croft, The Whole Booke of Psalmes (Lon­don: 1621) (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
Charles Coffin (1676–1749)

Lyrics

Thou spak­est, Lord, and in­to one
The floods to­ge­ther flowed;
Freed from its wa­tery veil, the land
Its ver­dant pas­tures showed.

O Fa­ther, who the earth has giv­en
Our place of toil to be,
Knit all with­in its one wide bound
In one true char­ity.

Strangers and pil­grims here be­low,
We seek a home above,
Where Thou wilt ga­ther in Thine own
Who live in ho­ly love.

Unloving words, with deeds of ill
And words of an­gry strife,
Shall ne­ver, Lord, Thy glo­ry see,
Nor win the heav’n­ly life.

The earth it­self from day to day
Their bur­den scarce sus­tains,
And yearns, in tra­vail, to be free
From dark cor­rupt­ion’s chains.

Yea, we too groan with­in our­selves,
And that adopt­ion wait
For which the Ho­ly Spir­it’s seal
Did us pre­des­tin­ate.

Eternal glo­ry be as­cribed
To God, the One in Three,
By whom is poured into our hearts
The grace of char­ity.