The Church's Safety and Triumph Among National Desolations

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God is the refuge of His saints, When storms of sharp distress invade

Author: Isaac Watts (1719)
Tune: WARD (Scottish)
Published in 460 hymnals

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Representative Text

1 God is the refuge of His saints,
when storms of sharp distress invade;
ere we can offer our complaints
behold Him present with His aid.

2 Let mountains from their seats be hurled
down to the deep, and buried there,
convulsions shake the solid world,
our faith shall never yield to fear.

3 Loud may the troubled ocean roar;
in sacred peace our souls abide,
while every nation, every shore,
trembles, and dreads the swelling tide.

4 There is a stream, whose gentle flow
supplies the city of our God;
life, love, and joy, still gliding through,
and wat'ring our divine abode.

5 That sacred stream, Thy holy Word,
our grief allays, our fear controls;
sweet peace Thy promises afford,
and give new strength to fainting souls.

6 Zion enjoys her Monarch's love,
secure against a threat'ning hour;
nor can her firm foundations move,
built on His truth, and armed with pow'r.

Source: Psalms and Hymns to the Living God #46B

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Author: Isaac Watts

Isaac Watts was the son of a schoolmaster, and was born in Southampton, July 17, 1674. He is said to have shown remarkable precocity in childhood, beginning the study of Latin, in his fourth year, and writing respectable verses at the age of seven. At the age of sixteen, he went to London to study in the Academy of the Rev. Thomas Rowe, an Independent minister. In 1698, he became assistant minister of the Independent Church, Berry St., London. In 1702, he became pastor. In 1712, he accepted an invitation to visit Sir Thomas Abney, at his residence of Abney Park, and at Sir Thomas' pressing request, made it his home for the remainder of his life. It was a residence most favourable for his health, and for the prosecution of his literary… Go to person page >

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First Line:	God is the refuge of His saints, When storms of sharp distress invade
Title:	The Church's Safety and Triumph Among National Desolations
Author:	Isaac Watts (1719)
Meter:	8.8.8.8
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

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Notes

God is the Refuge of His saints. I. Watts. [Ps. xlvi.] Appeared in his Psalms of David, &c, 1719, in 6 stanzas of 4 lines and headed, "The Church's Safety and Triumph among National Desolations." It has passed in full, or in an abbreviated form, into numerous collections in all English-speaking countries. In the Unitarian Hymn [& Tune] Book, Boston, U.S.A., 1868, stanzas v., vi., are given as No. 345, "There is a stream, whose gentle flow."

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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