Select Psalms and Hymns for the use of Mr. Adgate's pupils ‎#VI

VI. The all-seeing God

I 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.

II 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.

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

IV 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.

V "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 I.

VI 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?

VII 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.

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

IX 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.

X "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 II

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

XII 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.

XIII "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 searched, and seen through
• Title: The all-seeing God
• Meter: Long Metre
• Language: English
• Publication Date: 1787

Tune Information

(No tune information)