[Main] [Poetry Index]* [Poets] 1991 Denson Revision: [Titles] [Pages] [First Lines]* 2012 Cooper Revision: [Titles] [Pages] [First Lines]*
* Index of the First Line of Each Stanza, the Fifth Line of Eight Line Stanzas, and the First Line of the Chorus

SWEET is the Work, my God, my King,

PSALM XCII. First part.
A psalm for the Lord's day.

Poet: Isaac Watts, 1719
Meter: Long Meter (8,8,8,8)
Location in The Sacred Harp
Stanza Denson Cooper
1
SWEET is the Work, my God, my King,
To praise thy Name, give Thanks and Sing;
To shew thy Love by Morning-light,
And talk to all thy Truth at Night.

2
Sweet is the Day of sacred Rest,
No mortal Cares shall seize by Breast;
O may my Heart in Tune be found
Like David's Harp of solemn Sound!
Devotion 48t, Stanza 1
Devotion 48t, Stanza 1
3
My Heart shall triumph in my Lord,
And bless his Works, and bless his Word;
Thy Works of Grace how bright thy shine!
How deep thy Counsels! how divine!

4
Fools never raise their Thoughts so high;
Like Brutes they live, like Brutes they dye;
Like Grass they flourish, till thy Breath
Blast them in everlasting Death.

5
But I shall share a glorious Part
When Grace hath well refin'd my Heart,
And fresh Supplies of Joy are shed
Like holy Oil to chear my Head.
Devotion 48t, Stanza 2
Devotion 48t, Stanza 2
6
Sin (my worst Enemy before)
Shall vex my Eyes and Ears no more;
My inward Foes shall all be slain,
Nor Satan break my Peace again.

7
Then shall I see, and hear, and know
All I desir'd or wish'd below;
And eve'ry Power find sweet employ
In that eternal World of Joy.
Devotion 48t, Stanza 3
Devotion 48t, Stanza 3
St. 6. Rejoycing in the destruction of our personal
Enemies, is not so Evangelical a practice, therefore I have
given the 11th v. of the Psalm another turn: See the Notes
on the third Psalm.
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