Our God, Our Help in Ages Past
Isaac Watts
(1674-1748)
ST. ANNE (C.M.)
William Croft
(1678-1727)
Our God, our help in a-ges past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shel-ter from the stor-my blast,
And our e-ter-nal home.
Be-neath the sha-dow of Thy throne
Still may we dwell se-cure;
Suf-fi-cient is Thine arm a-lone,
And our de-fense is sure.
Be-fore the hills in or-der stood,
Or earth re-ceived her frame,
From ev-er-las-ting Thou art God,
To end-less years the same.
A thou-sand a-ges in Thy sight
Are like an eve-ning gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night
Be-fore the ri-sing sun.
The bu-sy tribes of flesh and blood,
With all their cares and fears,
Are car-ried down-ward by the flood,
And lost in fol-lowing years.
Thy Word com-mands our flesh to dust:
"Re-turn, ye sons of men!"
All na-tions rose from earth at first
And turn to earth again.
Time, like an ev-er rol-ling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly for-got-ten as a dream
Dies at the o-pening day.
Like flow-ery fields the na-tions stand,
Pleased with the mor-ning light;
The flowers be-neath the mow-er's hand
Lie with-ering ere 'tis night.
Our God, our help in a-ges past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be Thou our guard while life shall last,
And our e-ter-nal home.