Scripture Verse

Blessed be the Lord my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight. Psalm 144:1

Introduction

portrait
William Croft (1678–1727)

Words: Will­iam B. Car­pen­ter, in For God and Coun­try, ed­it­ed by Lou­is F. Ben­son (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Pres­by­ter­ian Board of Pub­li­ca­tion, 1918), num­ber 19.

Music: St. Anne Will­iam Croft, 1708 (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
William B. Carpenter (1841–1918)

Lyrics

O God, the strength of those who war,
The hope of those who wait,
Be with our sons gone forth to fight,
And those who keep the gate.

Give to our hosts in bat­tle’s hour
Firm hearts and cour­age high,
Thy com­fort give to those who fall,
Thy peace to those who die.

Breathe on our land the spir­it calm
Which faith in right be­stows,
And in the hours of dark sus­pense
A faith which strong­er grows.

In Thee alone we place our hope,
Thou Keep­er of the just,
And Thou, through fight and fire and fears
Wilt jus­ti­fy our trust.

Thy ways are won­der­ful, O God,
Who mak­est wars to cease:
O let this be the fin­al war
That ush­ers in Thy peace.