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1.
My God, my portion, and my love,
My everlasting All,
I've none but thee in heaven above,
Or on this earthly ball.
2.
What empty things are all the skies,
And this inferior clod!
There's nothing here deserves my joys,
There's nothing like my God.
3.
In vain the bright, the burning sun
Scatters his feeble light;
'Tis thy sweet beams create my noon;
If thou withdraw 'tis night.
4.
And whilst upon my restless bed,
Among the shades I roll,
If my Redeemer shows his head,
'Tis morning with my soul.
5.
To thee I owe my wealth, and friends,
And health, and safe abode:
Thanks to thy name for meaner things:
But they are not my God.
6.
How vain a toy is glittering wealth,
If once compared to thee;
Or what's my safety, or my health,
Or all my friends to me?
7.
Were I possessor of the earth,
And called the stars my own,
Without thy graces and thyself,
I were a wretch undone.
8.
Let others stretch their arms like seas,
And grasp in all the shore;
Grant me the visits of thy grace,
And I desire no more.
Source: The Southern Harmony, and Musical Companion (New ed. thoroughly rev. and much enl.) #276
First Line: | My God, my portion, and my love |
Title: | God My Only Happiness |
Author: | Isaac Watts |
Meter: | 8.6.8.6 |
Language: | English |
Copyright: | Public Domain |
My God, my Portion and my Love. J. Watts. [God Man’s only Happiness.] Published in the first ed.ition of his Hymns and Spiritual Songs, 1707 (ed. 1709, Book ii., No. 94), in 8 stanzas of 41ines, and headed "God my only Happiness." It is in common use both in full and in an abridged form. In Dale's English Hymn Book, 1874, No. 639, "My God, my life is in Thy love," is also from this hymn, and is composed of stanzas i., ii., v., vii., viii. slightly altered.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)