God, Our Help

( Originally Published 1868 )

ISAAC WATTS, D.D.

Psalm xc.

OUR God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.

Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting thou art God,
To endless years the same.

Thy word commands our flesh to dust,
" Return, ye sons of men ;"
All nations rose from earth at first,
And turn to earth again.

A thousand ages in thy sight
Are like an evening gone ;
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising dawn.

Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the opening day.