Almighty God, thy piercing eye

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 >

Almighty God, Thy piercing eye. I. Watts. [Omniscience.] First published in his Divine Songs, 1715, in 6 stanzas of 4 lines, and entitled, "The All-seeing God," and again in all subsequent editions of the same work. It is given in various collections in Great Britain and America, principally in those for children, and sometimes in an abbreviated form. Original text in the Methodist Sunday School Hymnbook, 1879, No. 298. In one or two American collections it is attributed to Beddome in error.

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)