How Sweet And Awful Is The Place Lyrics
Tune Name: NEW BRITAIN (traditional)
Composer: Traditional
Meter: 8.7.8.7 D
Hymnbook Source: Early American hymnals
Verse 1
How sweet and awful is the place
With Christ within the doors,
While everlasting love displays
The choicest of her stores!
Verse 2
Here every kindness of our God
With soft compassion rolls;
Here peace and pardon bought with blood
Is food for dying souls.
Verse 3
While all our hearts and all our songs
Join to admire the feast,
Each of us cry, with thankful tongues,
“Lord, why was I a guest?
Verse 4
“Why was I made to hear Thy voice,
And enter while there’s room,
When thousands make a wretched choice,
And rather starve than come?”
Verse 5
‘Twas the same love that spread the feast
That sweetly drew us in;
Else we had still refused to taste,
And perished in our sin.
Verse 6
Pity the nations, O our God!
Constrain the earth to come;
Send Thy victorious Word abroad,
And bring the strangers home.
Verse 7
We long to see Thy churches full,
That all the chosen race
May with one voice, and heart and soul,
Sing Thy redeeming grace.
Hymn Information
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Title | How Sweet and Awful is the Place |
| Author / Lyricist | Isaac Watts (1674–1748) |
| Composer / Tune | Traditional adaptation; commonly paired with “St. Thomas” tune |
| Date Written / Published | Early 18th century |
| Historical Context | Written in England; reflects awe and devotion in the presence of God. |
| Theme / Message | Reverence and delight in communion with God. |
| Notable Features | Meditative, poetic language; suitable for worship and personal devotion. |
| Cultural / Religious Impact | Found in Reformed and Anglican hymnals; used in contemplative worship. |
| Source / Scholarship | Isaac Watts: His Life and Writings – John Brown |
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