O Lord, Thou hast searched me, and known me.
Psalm 139:1
Words: Attributed to Philip Sidney (1554–1586). However, the text was apparently not published until 1823, and it is unclear in the 1823 version whether the author was Philip or his sister, Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke (Julian, page 1057). The text below is credited to Philip in Hymns of Duty and Faith, edited by Robert Crompton Jones (London: E. T. Whitfield, 1872), pages 121–22.
Music: Leicester (Bishop) John Bishop, in A Sett of New Psalm Tunes, 1700 (🔊 pdf nwc).
Alternate Tune:
If you know where to get a good picture of Bishop (head & shoulders, at least 200×300 pixels),
O Lord, in me there lieth naught
But to Thy search revealèd lies;
For when I sit Thou markest it,
No less Thou notest when I rise;
Yea, closest closet of my thought
Hath open windows to Thine eyes.
Thou walkest with me when I walk;
When to my bed for rest I go,
I find Thee there, and everywhere;
Not youngest thought in me doth grow,
No, not one word I cast to talk,
But, yet unuttered, Thou dost know.
If forth I march, Thou goest before,
If back I turn, Thou com’st behind;
So forth nor back Thy guard I lack;
Nay, on me too Thy hand I find;
Well I Thy wisdom may adore,
But never reach with earthly mind.
To shun Thy notice, leave Thine eye,
O whither might I take my way?
To starry sphere? Thy throne is there:
To dead men’s undelightsome stay?
There is Thy walk, and there to lie
Unknown, in vain I should assay.
O sun, whom light nor flight can match!
Suppose thy lightful, flightful wings
Thou lend to me, and I could flee
As far as thee the evening brings;
E’en led to west He would me catch,
Nor should I lurk with western things.
Do thou thy best, O secret night,
In sable veil to cover me:
Thy sable veil shall vainly fail.
With day unmasked my night shall be:
For night is day, and darkness light,
O Father of all lights, to Thee.