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* Index of the First Line of Each Stanza, the Fifth Line of Eight Line Stanzas, and the First Line of the Chorus

O That I knew the secret Place,

Sins and Sorrows spread before God.
A Sacred Hymn.

Poet: Isaac Watts, 1721
Meter: Common Meter (8,6,8,6)
Location in The Sacred Harp
Stanza Denson Cooper
1
O That I knew the secret Place,
Where I might find my God!
I'd spread my Wants before his Face,
And pour my Woes abroad.

2
I'd tell him how my Sins arise,
What Sorrows I sustain;
How Grace decays, and Comfort dies,
And leaves my Heart in pain.

3
I'd say, "How Flesh and Sense rebel!
"What inward Foes combine
"With the vain World, and Powers of Hell,
"To vex this Soul of mine!"

4
He knows what Arguments I'd take,
To wrestle with my God;
I'd plead for this own Mercy's sake,
And for my Saviour's Blood.

5
My God will pity my Complaints,
And heal my broken Bones:
He takes the Meaning of his Saints,
The Language of their Groans.

6
Arise, my Soul, from deep Distress,
And banish every Fear;
He calls the to his Throne of Grace,
To spread thy Sorrows there.

O That I knew the secret Place,, Stanza 1
Jesse Mercer's The Cluster of Spiritual Songs, Divine Hymns, and Sacred Poems; Being Chiefly a Collection uses the first verse of this hymn poem as a chorus to the hymn poem Oh! once I had a glorious view.
Watts, Isaac. Sermons on Verious Subjects. London: Printed for John Clark, 1721.