A Description of God's Children

As new born babes desire the breast

Author: Isaac Watts
Tune: CONTEMPLATION (Ouseley)
Published in 31 hymnals

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Representative Text

1 As new-born babes desire the breast,
To feed, and grow, and thrive;
So saints with joy the gospel taste,
And by the gospel live.

2 [With inward gust their heart approves
All that the Word relates.
They love the men the Father loves,
And hate the works he hates.]

3 [Not all the chains that tyrants use
Shall bind their souls to vice;
Faith, like a conqueror, can produce
A thousand victories.]

4 [Grace, like an uncorrupted seed,
Abides and reigns within;
Immortal principles forbid
The sons of God to sin.]

5 Not by the terrors of a slave,
Do they perform his will;
But with the noblest powers they have,
His sweet commands fulfil.

6 Lord, I address thy heavenly throne;
Call me a child of thine.
Send down the Spirit of thy Son
To form my heart divine.

7 There shed thy choicest loves abroad,
And make my comforts strong;
Then shall I say, “My Father, God,”
With an unwavering tongue.

Source: A Selection of Hymns for Public Worship. In four parts (10th ed.) (Gadsby's Hymns) #192

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: As new born babes desire the breast
Title: A Description of God's Children
Author: Isaac Watts
Meter: 8.6.8.6
Source: Hymns and Spiritual Songs Book 1, 1707
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Notes

So new-born babes desire the breast. I. Watts. [Christian Life]. Published in his Hymns and Sacred Songs, 1709, Book i., No. 143, in 10 stanzas of 4 lines and headed “Characters of the Children of God from several Scriptures." In common use it is usually abridged. Modern hymn-books also contain the following centos therefrom:—
1. As new-born babes desire the breast. In a few collections.
2. Dost thou the high and heavenly One? This, in the American Unitarian Hymns of the Spirit, Boston, 1864, No. 427, is composed of stanzas ix., vi.-viii. with blight alterations.
3. Father, I wait before Thy throne. An altered form of stanzas ix., x., in the Methodist Episcopal Hymns, 1849, and other American collections.
4. Grace, like an uncorrupted seed. This begins with stanzas v. and is found in a few American hymnals.
5. Immortal principles forbid. This, in the New Congregational Hymn Book, 1859, is composed of stanzas v.-x., with alterations.
6. Lord, I address Thy heavenly throne. This, in the Baptist Psalms & Hymns, 1858, is composed of stanzas ix., vi., v., vii., viii., in the order named. This hymn in these various forms is in extensive use.

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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