Scripture Verse

Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man. Through God we shall do valiantly: for He it is that shall tread down our enemies. Psalm 60:11–12

Introduction

portrait
Paul B. Henkel (1754–1825)

Words: Paul B. Hen­kel, Church Hymn Book (New Mar­ket, Vir­gin­ia: So­lo­mon Hen­kel, print­er, 1816), pag­es 149–51, alt. For a fast-day in time of war. Note: The 1816 edi­tion of this hym­nal does not name the au­thor. Paul Hen­kel’s son, Am­brose Hen­kel, iden­ti­fies his fa­ther as the au­thor by a dou­ble dag­ger symb­ol (‡) in the 1838 edi­tion, page 638.

Music: Bris­tol (Ra­vens­croft), from Tho­mas Ra­vens­croft’s Psal­ter, 1621 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a bet­ter pic­ture of Hen­kel,

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Thomas Ravenscroft (1592–1635)

Lyrics

Show mer­cy, Lord, re­veal Thy pow­er;
Turn Thy af­flict­ing hand;
That much de­sir­èd peace re­store
To this, our wretch­ed land.

We have of­fend­ed Thee, our God!
Our crimes are ve­ry great;
Sedition, war, and shed­ding blood,
Deserve to be our fate.

Long have Thine of­fers been de­nied;
In vain Thy calls have been;
Well we de­serve to be de­stroyed,
And per­ish in our sin.

Our en­emies with all their hosts,
Invade us ev­ery­where;
They trou­ble us in all our coasts
And fill our land with fear.

What num­bers of our fel­low men
Become a prey to death;
When in the field of bat­tle slain,
And there re­sign their breath.

Whilst oth­ers are swept off the stage,
By var­ious com­plaints,
Which, in our guil­ty camps do rage
And hur­ry them from hence.

What sor­rows, trou­bles, griefs and woes
In ev­ery place abound;
What num­bers of our cru­el foes
Encompass us around.

We grieve to see the great dis­tress
The pre­sent times have made;
Poor wi­dows, or­phans fa­ther­less,
Without sup­port or aid.

Have mer­cy gra­cious God! we pray,
Lord, hear the cries we make;
O! cast us not from Thee away,
Spare us for Je­sus’ sake.