Gracious Fa­ther, guard Thy child­ren
From the foe’s de­struc­tive pow­er;
Save, O save them, Lord, from fall­ing
In this dark and try­ing hour.
Thou wilt sure­ly prove Thy people,
All our grac­es must be tried;
But Thy Word il­lumes our path­way,
And in God we still con­fide.

We are in the time of wait­ing;
Soon we shall be­hold our Lord,
Wafted far away from sor­row,
To re­ceive our rich re­ward.
Keep us, Lord, till Thine ap­pear­ing,
Pure, un­spot­ted, from the world;
Let Thy Ho­ly Spir­it cheer us
Till Thy ban­ner is un­furled.

With what joy­ful ex­ul­ta­tion
Shall the saints Thy ban­ner see,
When the Lord for whom we’ve wait­ed
Shall pro­claim the ju­bi­lee!
Freedom from this world’s pol­lu­tions;
Freedom from all sin and pain;
Freedom from the wiles of Sa­tan,
And from death’s de­struc­tive reign.