Scripture Verse

Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever Thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. Psalm 90:2

Introduction

portrait
Harriet Auber (1773–1862)

Words: Har­ri­et Auber, The Spir­it of the Psalms (Lon­don: T. Ca­dell and C. & J. Riv­ing­ton, 1829), page 84.

Music: Ham­burg Lo­well Ma­son, 1824. First pub­lished in The Bos­ton Han­del and Hay­dn So­ci­ety Coll­ec­tion of Church Mu­sic, third edi­tion, 1825 (🔊 pdf nwc).

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Lowell Mason (1792–1872)

Lyrics

Ere mount­ains reared their forms sub­lime,
Or the fair earth in or­der stood,
Before the birth of an­cient time,
From ev­er­last­ing Thou art God.

A thou­sand ag­es in their flight,
With Thee are as a fleet­ing day;
Past, pre­sent, fu­ture, to Thy sight,
At once their va­ri­ous scenes dis­play.

But our brief life’s a sha­dowy dream,
A pass­ing thought that soon is o’er,
That fades with morn­ing’s ear­li­est beam,
And fills the mus­ing mind no more.

To us, O Lord, the wis­dom give
To ev­ery pre­cious hour to spend,
That we at length with Thee may live
Where life and bliss shall ne­ver end.