All praise be to God! O’er the bil­lows of ocean,
Thro’ isles of the south and the north,
The mis­sions have sped with tri­um­phant de­vo­tion,
To com­pass the bounds of the earth.

Sweet pow­er that thus to the hea­then un­veil­eth
The need and the tri­umph of pray­er;
How co­ve­nant mer­cy in Je­sus pre­vail­eth
O’er ig­nor­ance, guilt and des­pair.

On, on, ye swift mes­sen­gers, her­alds of Jesus,
O’er mount­ain, o’er de­sert, and wave!
Proclaim thro’ the na­tions His pow­er to re­lease us
From ter­rors of death and des­pair.

On, on, with the arm of His right­eous­ness o’er you,
The strong­holds of sin to de­stroy!
On, on, with the spir­it of glo­ry be­fore you,
To give you a har­vest of joy.