256. The All-Seing GOD

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 every 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 I.

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 enthron'd 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 II

11 The Veil of Night is no Disguise,
No Screen from thy All-searching Eyes:
Thy Hand can search thy Foes as soon
Through 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'
Title: The All-Seing GOD
Meter: Long Metre
Language: English
Publication Date: 1740
Scripture:
Topic: Appeal to God: concerning our sincerity; Daily Devotion; Evening Psalm (18 more...)
Tune Information
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