Scripture Verse

All thy works shall praise Thee, O Lord; and Thy saints shall bless Thee. Psalm 145:10

Introduction

portrait
Franz J. Haydn (1732–1809)

Words: James Mer­rick (1720–1769).

Music: Cre­ation Franz J. Hay­dn, 1798 (🔊 pdf nwc) (re­peats last two lines).

Alternate Tunes:

If you know where to get a good pic­ture of Mer­rick (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

Far as cre­ation’s bounds extend,
Thy mer­cies, hea­ven­ly Lord, des­cend;
One chor­us of per­pe­tu­al praise
To Thee thy va­ri­ous works shall raise,
Thy saints to Thee in hymns im­part
The trans­ports of a grate­ful heart.

The splen­dors of Thy king­dom tell,
Delighted on Thy won­ders tell;
And bid the world’s wide realm ad­mire
The glo­ries of th’Al­mig­hty Sire,
Whose throne all na­ture’s wreck sur­vives,
Whose pow­er through end­less ages lives.

Thy pro­mise truth eter­nal guides,
And mer­cy o’er each act pre­sides;
The feet, whose steps to lapse in­cline,
With faith­ful care Thy arm di­vine
Shall prop; the spir­it bowed with woe
Thy all sup­port­ing aid shall know.

From Thee, great God, while ev­ery eye
Expectant waits the wished sup­ply,
Their bread pro­por­tioned to the day,
Thy op­en­ing hands to each con­vey;
In ev­ery sor­row of the heart
Eternal mer­cy bears a part.

Who ask Thine aid with heart sin­cere,
Thee ev­er gra­cious, ev­er near;
Shall own; their pray­er, in each dis­tress,
To Thee, Thy ser­vants, Lord, ad­dress;
And find Thee (verg­ing on the grave)
Nor slow to hear, nor weak to save.