Religion

Song 9: The all-seeing God

by Isaac Watts 1674–1748

From Divine and Moral Songs for Children (1715)

Religion

Almighty God, thy piercing eye
Strikes through the shades of night,
And our most secret actions lie
All open to thy sight.

There's not a sin that we commit,
Nor wicked word we say,
But in thy dreadful book tis writ
Against the judgment-day.

And must the crimes that I have done
Be read and publish'd there;
Be all exposed before the sun,
While men and angels hear?

Lord, at thy feet ashamed I lie;
Upward I dare not look:
Pardon my sins before I die,
And blot them from thy book.

Remember all the dying pains
That my Redeemer felt;
And let his blood wash out my stains,
And answer for my guilt.

O may I now for ever fear
T' indulge a sinful thought,
Since the great God can see and hear,
And writes down ev'ry fault!

MLA

Watts, Isaac. “Song 9: The all-seeing God.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/watts/730/.

Chicago

Watts, Isaac. “Song 9: The all-seeing God.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/watts/730/.

Read this poem with the Codex →

More by Isaac Watts