Scripture Verse

The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee. Psalm 20:1

Introduction

Words: Ano­ny­mous, in the Chris­tian Ob­serv­er, Ap­ril 1804. This has been re­pub­lished in ma­ny al­tered forms.

Music: Blaen­haf­ren tra­di­tion­al Welsh mel­ody (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tune:

  • Penzance H. Roach, in The Pri­mi­tive Me­tho­dist Hym­nal, ed­it­ed by George Booth (Lon­don: Pri­mi­tive Me­tho­dist Pub­lish­ing House, 1889), num­ber 913 (🔊 pdf nwc)

Anecdote

At that time [Na­po­le­on] Bo­na­parte was First Con­sul, and me­di­tat­ing an im­me­di­ate in­va­sion of Eng­land. A day of hu­mi­li­ation and pray­er was ap­point­ed.

In an­ti­ci­pa­tion of this day the fol­low­ing ed­it­or­ial note, to­geth­er with the hymn be­low, ap­peared in the Chris­tian Ob­serv­er:—

His Ma­jes­ty has been gra­cious­ly pleased to ap­point Fri­day, the 25th of May next, to be ob­served through­out Eng­land and Ire­land as a day of pub­lic hu­mi­li­ation and fast­ing.

We ear­nest­ly hope that it may be ob­served in a prop­er man­ner. We sub­join a hymn for the oc­ca­sion, which has just reached us in time to ob­tain a place in this num­ber.

Julian, p. 310

Lyrics

Dread Je­ho­vah, God of na­tions,
From Thy tem­ple in the skies,
Hear Thy peo­ple’s sup­pli­ca­tions,
Now for their de­li­ver­ance rise.
Lo, with deep con­tri­tions turn­ing,
Humbly at Thy feet we bend;
Hear us, fast­ing, pray­ing, mourn­ing;
Hear us, spare us, and de­fend.

Foes, who’ve rav­aged peace­ful re­gions,
Now for us the yoke pre­pare;
And, if Thou for­sake our le­gions,
We, like them, the yoke must wear.
Shall re­li­gion’s foes en­slave us?
Shall their hea­then tongues ex­claim,
Where’s your God? O rise to save us,
And as­sert Thy glo­ri­ous name.

Though our sins, our hearts con­found­ing,
Long and loud for ven­geance call,
Thou hast mer­cy more abound­ing,
Jesus’ blood can cleanse from all.
Let that mer­cy veil trans­gress­ions,
Let that blood our guilt ef­face:
Save Thy peo­ple from op­press­ion,
Save from spoil Thy ho­ly place.

Hear, O God! the vows we ten­der;
With our hosts to bat­tle go;
Shield the head of each de­fend­er,
And con­found the im­pi­ous foe,
So when ceased the bat­tle’s rag­ing,
Thine shall be the vic­tor’s praise;
And in Thy ho­ly bonds en­gag­ing,
We will serve Thee all our days.