578. God’s law is perfect, and converts
Psalm XIX
Scottish Psalter, 1650
Psalm 19:7-11. God’s Praise in the Moral Universe.
The psalm describes God’s revelation to man. God is revealed to us “in the starry heavens above and in the moral law within,” (to use the phrase of Immanuel Kant). The hymn, composed of verses 7-11, deals only with the latter, the law in the heart.
MUSIC. ST. ANDREW appeared in The New Harmony of Sion by William Tans’ur, in 1764, where it was set to Psalm 150, and inscribed “Barby Tune, composed in four parts, W.T.” The initials may mean only that the harmony was by Tans’ur.
For comments on William Tans’ur see [Hymn 74].