I’ve been exploring some of the very modern worship songs as an old guy š. But now, I’ve decided to alternate between very modern hymns, old hymns, and in-between hymns, namely the worship songs from the 60s to the 90s that feature in hymnbooks such as Mission Praise. Today it’s the turn of the old hymns.
Today’s song is I’ll Praise My Maker from 1719.
1 Iāll praise my Maker while Iāve breath;
And when my voice is lost in death,
Praise shall employ my nobler powers.
My days of praise shall neāer be past
While life, and thought, and being last,
Or immortality endures.
2 How happy they whose hopes rely
On Israelās God who made the sky,
And earth and seas with all their train;
Whose truth for ever stands secure,
Who saves the oppressed and feeds the poor,
And none shall find God's promise vain.
3 The Lord pours eyesight on the blind;
The Lord supports the fainting mind
And send the laboring sonscience peace.
God helps the stranger in distress,
The widowed and the parentless,
And grants the prisoner sweet release.
4 Iāll praise my Maker while I've breath;
And when my voice is lost in death,
Praise shall employ my nobler powers.
My days of praise shall neāer be past
While life and thought and being last,
Or immortality endures.
Someone asked me to play it on the organ around 15 years ago. I wasn’t familiar with it, and it was particularly difficult trying to relate the lyrics to the tune. But I developed a great affection for it. It is sung to various tunes, but I like the Monmouth tune best. It came from a collection of hymns that Isaac Watts wrote based on the Psalms. I love to sing hymns that relate to the Psalms. The Psalms themselves aren’t easy to sing if you stick to the exact words. Churches do try it, but it’s much easier if they’re paraphrased or if people just based hymns loosely on them. This one is based on Psalm 146.
Psalm 146
Praise ye theĀ Lord. Praise theĀ Lord, O my soul.
2Ā While I live will I praise theĀ Lord: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.
3Ā Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.
4Ā His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.
5Ā Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in theĀ LordĀ his God:
6Ā Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is: which keepeth truth for ever:
7Ā Which executeth judgment for the oppressed: which giveth food to the hungry. TheĀ LordĀ looseth the prisoners:
8Ā TheĀ LordĀ openeth the eyes of the blind: theĀ LordĀ raiseth them that are bowed down: theĀ LordĀ loveth the righteous:
9Ā TheĀ LordĀ preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and widow: but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down.
10Ā TheĀ LordĀ shall reign for ever, even thy God, O Zion, unto all generations. Praise ye theĀ Lord.
It’s said to be one of John Wesley’s favourite hymns. Wesley actually tweaked the hymn. Most of these old hymns, like folk songs, end up being changed over the years.
Here are some other performances and versions of the hymn:
Hibernia Gospel 