San Francisco Central Seventh-day Adventist Church

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82 Before Jehovah's Awful Throne

Today's Hymn of Praise is #82, Before Jehovah's Awful Throne. It is by the famous hymnwriter Isaac Watts, and is a paraphrase of Psalm 100. None less that John Wesley tinkered with the wording a little (although he was strenuously aggravated by anyone's meddling with his hymns).

DUKE STREET is the tune, by John Hatton in 1793. It marches vigorously up and down the scale; but despite its grandeur boldness, no other hymn-tune by Hatton has survived. The name of the tune, DUKE STREET, was Hatton's address!

Before Jehovah's awful throne,
Ye nations, bow with sacred joy;
Know that the Lord is God alone;
He can create, and He destroy.

His sovereign power, without our aid,
Made us of clay, and formed us men;
and when like wandering sheep we strayed,
He brought us to His fold again.

We'll crowd His gates with thankful songs,
High as the heavens our voices raise;
And earth, with her ten thousand tongues,
Shall fill His courts with sounding praise.

Wide as the world is His command,
Vast as Eternity His love;
Firm as a rock His truth shall stand,
When rolling years shall cease to move.