O Thou before whose pre­sence
Naught ev­il may come in,
Yet who dost look in mer­cy
Down on this world of sin,
O give us no­ble pur­pose
To set the sin bound free,
And Christ­like ten­der pi­ty
To seek the lost for Thee.

Fierce is our subtle foe­man:
The forc­es at his hand
With woes that none can num­ber
Despoil the plea­sant land;
All they who war against them,
In strife so keen and long,
Must in their Sav­ior’s ar­mor
Be strong­er than the strong.

So hast Thou wrought among us
The great things that we see!
For things that are we thank Thee,
And for the things to be.
For bright hope is up­lift­ing
Faint hands and fee­ble knees,
To strive be­neath Thy bless­ing
For great­er things than these.

Lead on, O love and mer­cy,
O pu­ri­ty and pow­er,
Lead on till peace eter­nal
Shall close this bat­tle hour:
Till all who prayed and strug­gled
To set their breth­ren free,
In tri­umph meet to praise Thee,
Most ho­ly Tri­ni­ty.