Introduction
British Museum
Words: Isaac Watts, The Psalms of David 1719. The rich sinner’s death, and the saints’ resurrection.
Music: Germany, Sacred Melodies, by William Gardiner, 1815 (🔊 pdf nwc).
They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches, none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him.
Psalm 49:6–7
Words: Isaac Watts, The Psalms of David 1719. The rich sinner’s death, and the saints’ resurrection.
Music: Germany, Sacred Melodies, by William Gardiner, 1815 (🔊 pdf nwc).
Why do the proud insult the poor,
And boast the large estates they have?
How vain are riches to secure
Their haughty owners from the grave!
They can’t redeem one hour from death,
With all the wealth in which they trust;
Nor give a dying brother breath,
When God commands him down to dust.
There the dark earth and dismal shade
Shall clasp their naked bodies round;
That flesh, so delicately fed,
Lies cold and molders in the ground.
Like thoughtless sheep the sinner dies,
Laid in the grave for worms to eat;
The saints shall in the morning rise,
And find th’oppressor at their feet.
His honors perish in the dust,
And pomp and beauty, birth and blood:
That glorious day exalts the just
To full dominion o’er the proud.
My Savior shall my life restore,
And raise me from my dark abode;
My flesh and soul shall part no more,
But dwell for ever near my God.