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GOD of my Life, look gently down,

PSALM XXXIX. 9--13. Third Part.
Sick-bed devotion: or, Pleading without repining.

Poet: Isaac Watts, 1719
Meter: Common Meter (8,6,8,6)
Location in The Sacred Harp
Stanza Denson Cooper
1
GOD of my Life, look gently down,
Behold the Pains I feel;
But I am dumb before thy Throne,
Nor dare dispute thy Will.
Poland 86, Stanza 1
2
Diseases are thy Servants, Lord,
They come at thy Command;
I'll not attempt a murm'ring Word
Against thy chast'ning Hand.

3
Yet I may plead with humble Cries,
Remove thy sharp Rebukes;
My Strength consumes, my Spirit dies
Thro' thy repeated Strokes.

4
Crusht as a Moth beneath thy Hand
We moulder to the Dust;
Our feeble Powers can ne'er withstand,
And all our Beauty's lost.

5
[This Mortal Life decays Apace,
How soon the Bubble's broke!
Adam and all his num'rous Race
Are Vanity and Smoke.]

6
I'm but a Sojourner below
As all my Fathers were,
May I be well prepar'd to go,
When I the Summons hear!
Poland 86, Stanza 2
7
But if my Life be spar'd a while
Before my last Remove,
Thy Praise shall be my Business still,
And I'll declare thy Love.
Poland 86, Stanza 3
Watts, Isaac. The Psalms of David: Imitated in the Language of the New Testament, and applied to the Christian State and Worship. London: Printed for J. Clark, R. Ford, and R. Cruttenden, 1719