God is a name my soul adores

General information

This is a poem by Isaac Watts, 1705, from Horae Lyricae, no. 8. Meter is 88. 88 (L.M.).

Settings by composers (automatically updated)

• Abijah Forbush — Tennessee  English SATB

Text and translations

English text 1. God is a name my soul adores, The almighty three, the eternal one; Nature and grace, with all their powers, Confess the infinite unknown. 2. From thy great self thy being springs; Thou art thy own original, Made up of uncreated things, And self-sufficience bears them all.

3. Thy voice produced the seas and spheres; Bid the waves roar and planets shine; But nothing like thyself appears, Through all these spacious works of thine. 4. Still restless nature dies and grows; From change to change the creatures run: Thy being no succession knows, And all thy vast designs are one.

5. A glance of thine runs through the globes, Rules the bright world, and moves their frame: Broad sheets of light compose thy robes; Thy guards are formed of living flame. 6. Thrones and dominions round thee fall, And worship in submissive forms; Thy presence shakes this lower ball, This little dwelling-place of worms.

7. How shall affrighted mortals dare To sing thy glory or thy grace ? Beneath thy feet we lie so far, And see but shadows of thy face. 8. Who can behold the blazing light? Who can approach consuming flame? None but thy wisdom knows thy might; None but thy word can speak thy name.

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