Waiting for Pardon and Direction

I lift my soul to God

Author: Isaac Watts
Published in 112 hymnals

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Representative Text

1 I lift my soul to God,
My trust is in His name;
Let not my foes that seek my blood
Still triumph in my shame.

2 From the first dawning light
Till the dark evening rise,
For Thy salvation, Lord, I wait
With ever longing eyes.

3 Remember all Thy grace,
And lead me in Thy truth;
Forgive the sins of riper days,
And follies of my youth.

4 The Lord is just and kind;
The meek shall learn His ways,
And every humble sinner find
The methods of His grace.

5 For His own goodness' sake
He saves my soul from shame;
He pardons, though my guilt be great,
Through my Redeemer’s name.

Source: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal #296

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 >

Text Information

First Line: I lift my soul to God
Title: Waiting for Pardon and Direction
Author: Isaac Watts
Meter: 6.6.8.6
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Notes

I lift my soul to God. I. Watts. [Ps. xxv.] Part i. of his version of Ps. xxv. in his Psalms of David, &c, 1719, in 6 stanzas of 4 lines, headed "Waiting for Pardon and Direction." In the Church Pastorals, Boston, 1864, and other American collections, stanzas iii.-vi. are given as, " From the first dawning light." A cento in the Leeds Hymn Book, 1853, No. 31, begins with the same stanza. It is composed of stanzas ii., iv. of Pt. i.; stanzas i., vii., viii. of Pt. iii. The American arrangement is the more popular of the two.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal #296

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The Cyber Hymnal #2874

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