The poetical works of John and Charles Wesley

Almighty Lord of hosts,
On whose protecting grace
Thy quiet flock securely trusts,
In troublous evil days;
Who hear'st the faithful prayer,
Incline Thine ear to ours,
And guard us from the coming snare
With all Thy heavenly powers.

For us Thy guardian hand
Hath oft extended been,
When Babel's sons approach'd the land,
Thy mercy stepp'd between;

Thy mercy caught us up
As from our instant doom,
And frustrated the surest hope
Of antichristian Rome.

Thou, Lord, against our foes
Didst for Thy people fight,
Their dark conspiracies disclose,
And blast their open might;
Their consecrated hosts,
Their fleets invincible,
And baffle the triumphant boasts,
And subtlest plots of hell.

Even now Thy piercing eye
The close design surveys,
Of men, who Israel's God defy,
A false perfidious race,
Who treacherously contend
Our country to o'erthrow,
And watch the dreadful news to send
In the destructive blow.

With furious error blind,
With wild ambition's lust,
They reign, corrupters of mankind,
And murderers of the just.
Drunk with the martyrs' blood,
They all Thy laws disdain,
And boldly cry “There is no God,
Or none who died for man.”

Such is the nation, Lord,
Who on our necks would tread!
Ah! do not use them as Thy sword,
Nor let their plots succeed:

But cast the wicked down,
Confound their angry pride,
And make the scatter'd aliens own
That God is on our side.

University of Virginia Library

HYMN XIII.

[Almighty Lord of hosts]