Hymn and Scripture Quiz

Many of our hymns are closely based on scripture. Some, like 'The Lord's my Shepherd' are an exact paraphrase of a psalm (Ps.23 in this case). Others start off from a scriptural text, and then go on with thoughts, feelings, other scriptures as the writer is inspired. This custom began when the Bible in English became widely known. It was useful for a congregation, when many of them perhaps could not read, to have scripture in verse form, something that was easy to remember, and could be set to music. The Psalms themselves are of course poems, but of a different kind from the metrical versions composed in English during the last four hundred years.

In our quiz, we have taken verses of well known hymns, and the task is to match each one with the verse of scripture on which it is based. To make it easy, we print the scripture verses (in jumbled order) but you might also wish to exercise your brains by finding the references.

Match each hymn to a scripture, and find where it is in the Bible.

Hymns

capitals and punctuation as in Hymns and Psalms

1	Jesus shall reign where'er the sun Doth his successive journeys run; His kingdom stretch from shore to shore Till moons shall wax and wane no more.

2	O God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come, Our shelter from the stormy blast And our eternal home.

3	Come, let us join our cheerful songs With angels round the throne; Ten thousand thousand are their tongues, But all their joys are one.

4	I'm not ashamed to own my Lord, Or to defend his cause, Maintain the honour of his word, The glory of his cross.

5	God is the refuge of his saints, When storms of sharp distress invade; Ere we can offer our complaints, Behold him present with his aid!

6	Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King; Let every heart prepare him room And heaven and nature sing.

7	When I survey the wondrous cross On which the Prince of Glory died, My richest gain I count but loss, And pour contempt on all my pride.

8	Sweet is the work, my God, my King, To praise thy name, give thanks and sing; To show thy love by morning light, And talk of all thy truth at night.

9	Awake,our souls; away, our fears; Let every trembling thought be gone; Awake, and run the heavenly race, And put a cheerful courage on.

10	Blest be the everlasting God, The Father of our Lord! Be his abounding mercy praised, His majesty adored!

Scriptures

A.	God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

B	But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.

C	Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again to a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

D	Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.

E	He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

F	They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations....He shall have dominion also from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth.

G	And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands.

H	Make a joyful noise before the Lord, the King....Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof: the world, and they that dwell therein..... for he cometh to judge the earth.

I	For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.

J	It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord... to shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night.

Goto answers

It so happens that all the above ten hymns are the work of Isaac Watts (1674‑1748). They are only a small sample of his work, he is credited with 750 hymns.

Isaac Watts is a prime example of someone whose natural gifts are used to the glory of God. When he was a child, and in trouble for keeping his eyes open during the prayers, he wrote "A little mouse, for want of stairs Ran up a rope to say its prayers." You can just imagine a boy watching a mouse in church when he should have been praying! It was the same person, in his maturity, who wrote 'When I survey the wondrous cross...'

Watts was born in Southampton during the reign of King Charles II. His father, also called Isaac, was twice imprisoned because of his non-conformist beliefs. Isaac, because he was not Church of England, was not able to take up an opportunity to go to Oxford University, but instead went in 1690 to the dissenting academy at Stoke Newington (London). He was expert in Latin, Greek and Hebrew, Logic and Theology. He was for a time a private tutor, and became minister of an independent chapel in London.

It is said of his hymns that they made the scriptures personal to the singer - 'invested the text with personal spirituality', while keeping close to the original - 'emotional subjectivity, doctrinal objectivity'. He took his teaching duties seriously, and many children and young people in the following century must have been affected by his song 'Against Idleness and Mischief' in the publication 'Divine and Moral Songs for the use of children'.