Precious book divine

The following hymn by English Baptist minister John Fawcett was published in 1782 in Hymns Adapted to the Circumstances of Public Worship and Private Devotion (Leeds: G. Wright and Son, pages 71-72). Fawcett is well known as the writer of “Blest be the tie that binds.” In various books it appears with tunes such as Belmont, Warwick, Avon, Azmon, Laurel Hill, Oswald, and others. I think I would like it with Avon, and perhaps also with Ortonville.

HYMN XLI. C. M.

Ps. cxix. 105. Thy word is a Lamp to my feet, and a light to my paths.

1. How precious is the book divine,
By inspiration given!
Bright as a lamp its doctrines shine
To guide our souls to heav’n.

2. Its light, descending from above
Our gloomy world to chear,
Displays a Saviour’s boundless love
And brings his glories near.

3. It shows to man his wand’ring ways
And where his feet have trod;
And brings to view the matchless grace
Of a forgiving God.

4. When once it penetrates the mind,
It conquers ev’ry sin;
Th’ enlighten’d soul begins to find
The path of peace divine.

5. It sweetly chears our drooping hearts,
In this dark vale of tears,
Life, light, and joy it still imparts
And quells our rising fears.

6. This lamp thro’ all the tedious night
Of life, shall guide our way,
Till we behold the clearer light
Of an eternal day.

The following stanza appears in some song books, but it is not in Fawcett’s 1782 hymn book.

O’er all the straight and narrow way
Its radiant beams are cast;
A light whose never weary ray
Grows brightest at the last.