WHILE Sounds of war are heard around,
And death and ruin strew the ground;
To thee we look, on thee we call,
The parent, and the LORD of all!
Thou, who hast stamp'd on human kind
The image of a heav'n-born mind,
And, in a father's wide embrace,
Hast cherish'd all the kindred race;
O see! with what insatiate rage
Thy sons their impious battles wage;
How spreads destruction like a flood,
And brothers shed their brothers' blood!
Great GOD! whose powerful hand can bind
The raging waves, the furious wind,
O! bid the human tempest cease,
And hush the madd'ning world to peace.
With rev'rence may each hostile land
Hear and obey that high command,
Sent down to mortals from above, wouT
My creatures! live in mutual love."
GREAT framer of unnumber'd worlds, And whom unnumber'd worlds adore A Whose goodness all thy creatures share," While nature trembles at thy pow'r: d
While suppliant crowds implore thine aid,
To thee we raise the lowly eye;
Thine altar is the contrite heart,
Thine incense, a repentant sigh.
But if injustice grind the poor,
Or av'rice stain thy creatures' hand
Or stern ambition thirst for blood,
Or rude oppression waste the land:
The GOD, who hears the orphan's cry,
The martyr's prayer, and prisoner's groan,
Still listening to the poor opprest,
Would spurn the oppressor from his throne.
May Britain, in her sober hour,
Confess thy hand, and bless the rod;
Thou still wouldst love to be her friend,
Who loves to own thee as her GOD.
PRAISE FOR NATIONAL PEACE.
GREAT ruler of the earth and skies!
A word of thine almighty breath
Can sink the world, or bid it rise:
Thy smile is life, thy frown is death.
When angry nations rush to arms,
And rage, and noise, and tumult reign,
And war resounds its dire alarms,
And slaughter dyes the hostile plain:
Thy sov'reign eye looks calmly down,
And marks their course, and bounds their
Thy law the angry nations own,
And noise and war are heard no more.
Then peace returns with balmy wing; Sweet peace! with her what blessings fled! Glad plenty laughs, the valleys sing, Reviving commerce lifts her head.
To thee we pay our grateful songs,
Thy kind protection still implore:
O may our hearts, and lives, and tongues,
Confess thy goodness, and adore!
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