Sweet is the work, my God, my King

Sweet is the work, my God, my King

Author: Isaac Watts (1719)
Published in 690 hymnals

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FESTIVAL HYMNS AND PROCESSIONALS

Full Text

1 Sweet is the work, my God, my King,
To praise thy Name, give thanks and sing,
To show Thy love by morning light,
And talk of all Thy truth at night.

2 Sweet is the day of sacred rest;
No mortal cares shall seize my breast;
My heart shall triumph in my Lord,
And bless His works, and bless His Word.

3 And I shall share a glorious part
When grace hath well refined my heart;
When doubts and fears no more remain
To break my inward peace again.

4 Then shall I see and hear and know
All I desired or wished below;
And ev'ry pow'r find sweet employ
In that eternal world of joy.


Source: Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary #469

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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 >

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Text Information

First Line: Sweet is the work, my God, my King
Author: Isaac Watts (1719)
Meter: 8.8.8.8
Language: English
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Notes

Sweet is the work, my God, my [and] King. I. Watts. [Ps. xcii. or Sunday.] First published in his Psalms of David, &c, 1719, p. 237, in 7 stanzas of 4 lines, and headed, "A Psalm for the Lord's Day." In G. Whitefield's Hymns for Social Worship, &c, 1753, No. 20, stanzas i., ii., iii., vii. were given as "Sweet is the work, O God, our King." This was repeated in M. Madan's Psalms & Hymns., 1760, No. 105. A. M. Toplady gave the same stanzas in his Psalms & Hymns, 1776, as No. 34, but with other changes in some stanzas, and the opening line as “Sweet is the work, my God and King." This reading is found in some modern collections in the Church of England. Other arrangements of the text are given in hymnbooks in Great Britain and America. It is a good and popular hymn.

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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Tune

TRURO

TRURO is an anonymous tune, first published in Thomas Williams's Psalmodia Evangelica, (second vol., 1789) as a setting for Isaac Watts' "Now to the Lord a noble song." Virtually nothing is known about this eighteenth-century British editor of the two-volume Psalmodia Evangelica, a collection of thr…

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GRACE CHURCH (Pleyel)


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Instances

Instances (4)TextImageAudioScore
Church Hymnal, Fifth Edition #76
Complete Mission Praise #620
Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary #469Text
Sing Glory: Hymns, Psalms and Songs for a New Century #97
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