The God We Worship Now

The tune Aylesbury/Will Guide Us Till We Die in The Sacred Harp includes a text by Isaac Watts. This text was published in 1719 in The Psalms of David Imitated in the Language of the New Testament. It is a Short Meter psalm with words “imitated” from Psalm 48:10-14.

The first stanza of Aylesbury in The Sacred Harp (1991, 2012, p. 28) is the 6th stanza of the Second Part of Watts’s paraphrase of Psalm 48 (verses 10-14), titled “The Beauty of the Church; or, Gospel Worship and Order.” The second stanza is stanza five of the original and the third stanza is stanza one of the original. The likely reason for this order is that in 1844 The Sacred Harp only had one stanza, “The God we worship now,” and the others were added later.

1. The God we worship now,
Will guide us till we die,
Will be our God while here below,
And ours above the sky.

Psalm 48:14 For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death.

2. How decent and how wise!
How glorious to behold,
Beyond the pomp that charms the eye,
And rites adorned with gold.

Psalm 48: 13 Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following.

3. Far as thy name is known,
The world declares thy praise;
Thy saints, Oh Lord, before thy throne
Their songs of honor raise.

Psalm 48:10 According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth: thy right hand is full of righteousness.

The 2nd-4th stanzas of the original paraphrase are:

2. With Joy let Judah stand
On Sion’s chosen hill,
Proclaim the Wonders of thy Hand,
And Counsels of thy Will.

3. Let Strangers walk around
The City where we dwell,
Compass and view thy holy Ground,
And mark the Building well.

4. The Orders of thy House,
The Worship of thy Court,
The chearful Songs, the solemn Vows;
And make a fair Report.

The tune Aylesbury began as a Psalm tune in A Book of Psalmody by James Chetham (1718), and later gained the current tune name. It is in some books also called Wirksworth.

Isaac Watts was born in Southampton, July 17, 1674, the son of a schoolmaster. His father was a Nonconformist, and was more than once imprisoned for his religious convictions.

Isaac learned Latin, Greek, and Hebrew early in his youth, and was writing good verse by the age of seven. At age sixteen, he went to study in the Stoke Newington Academy under Thomas Rowe, an Independent minister. Isaac became the assistant minister of the Independent Church on Berry Street, London, in 1698 and in 1702, he became the pastor. In 1712, he moved to Abney Park residence of Sir Thomas Abney, and stayed there the rest of his life.

The literary output of Isaac Watts is very large. Though best known for his hymns, he authored many theological works as well. “Behold the glories of the Lamb” is believed to be his first hymn written for the purpose of religious worship.

Isaac Watts died November 25, 1748, and was buried at Bunhill Fields. Additionally, there is a monument erected in Abney Park Cemetery and one in the South Choir of Westminster Abbey.