Dr. Watts's Imitation of the Psalms of David ‎#306

306. Lord thou hast search'd and seen me thro'

1 Lord, thou hast search'd and seen me thro',
Thine eye commands with piercing view
My rising and my resting hours,
My heart and flesh, with all their pow'rs.

2 My thoughts, before they are my own,
Are to my God distinctly known;
He knows the words I mean to speak,
Ere from my op'ning lips they break.

3 Within thy circling pow'r I stand;
On ev'ry side I find thy hand;
Awake, asleep, at home, abroad,
I am surrounded still with God.

4 Amazing knowledge, vast and great!
What large extent! what lofty height!
My soul, with all the pow'rs I boast,
Is in the boundless prospect lost.

5 'O may these thoughts possess my breast,
'Where'er I rove, where'er I rest,
'Nor let my weaker passions dare
'Consent to sin, for God is there.'

Pause.

6 Could I so false, so faithless prove,
To quit thy service and thy love,
Where, Lord, could I thy presence shun,
Or from thy dreadful glory run?

7 If up to heav'n I take my flight,
'Tis there thou dwell'st enthroned in light;
Or dive to hell, there vengeance reigns,
And Satan groans beneath thy chains.

8 If, mounted on a morning ray,
I fly beyond the western sea,
Thy swifter hand would first arrive,
And there arrest thy fugitive.

9 Or should I try to shun thy sight
Beneath the spreading veil of night;
One glance of thine, one piercing ray,
Would kindle darkness into day.

10 'O may these thoughts possess my breast,
'Where'er I rove, where'er I rest!
'Nor let my weaker passions dare
'Consent to sin, for God is there.'

Pause 2.

11 The veil of night is no disguise,
No screen from thy all searching eyes;
Thy hand can seize thy foes as soon
Thro' midnight shades as blazing noon.

12 Midnight and noon in this agree,
Great God, they're both alike to thee;
Not death can hide what God will spy,
And hell lies naked to his eye.

13 'O may these thoughts possess my breast,
'Where'er I rove, where'er I rest!
'Nor let my weaker passions dare
'Consent to sin, for God is there.'

Text Information

• First Line: Lord thou hast search'd and seen me thro'
• Meter: L. M.
• Language: English
• Publication Date: 1790
• Scripture:
  Psalm 139
• Notes: Part 1

Tune Information

(No tune information)