Scripture Verse

Every knee shall bow to Me. Romans 14:11

Introduction

Words: Ano­ny­mous, in A Col­lect­ion of Psalms and Hymns for the Use of Uni­ver­sal­ist So­ci­eties and Fa­mi­lies, 13th edi­tion, ed­it­ed by Ho­sea Bal­lou (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: Uni­ver­sal­ist Church of Am­eri­ca, 1842), num­ber 513. Judg­ments for Na­tion­al Sins Dep­re­cat­ed.

Music: Ki­shon in Car­mi­na Sac­ra, ed­it­ed by Low­ell Ma­son (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: J. H. Wil­kins & R. B. Car­ter, 1841), page 128 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tunes:

portrait
Lowell Mason (1792–1872)

Lyrics

Almighty Lord! be­fore Thy throne
Thy mourn­ing peo­ple bend!
’Tis on Thy par­don­ing grace alone
Our dy­ing hopes de­pend.

Dark judg­ments, from Thy hea­vy hand
Thy dread­ful pow­er dis­play;
Yet mer­cy spares our guil­ty land
And still we live to pray.

How changed, alas! are truths di­vine,
For er­ror, guilt and shame!
What im­pi­ous num­bers, bold in sin,
Disgrace the Chris­tian name!

O turn us—turn us, migh­ty Lord
Convert us by Thy grace;
Then shall our hearts ob­ey Thy word,
And see again Thy face.

Then, should op­press­ing foes in­vade,
We will not sink in fear;
Secure of all-suf­fi­cient aid
When Thou, O God, art near.