The poetical works of John and Charles Wesley

Hadst Thou not left Thyself a seed,
We all had now as Sodom been,
And felt the punishment decreed,
And justly perish'd in our sin;
Our cities had in heaps become
Sad monuments of Thy righteous ire,
And every soul received its doom,
The vengeance of eternal fire.

But rich in grace, Thou hast not yet
Abandon'd us to Satan's power,
Or suffer'd the wide gaping pit
Our sinful nation to devour:
Our lives are given us for a prey;
Yet O, with conscious hearts we feel
Thine anger is not turn'd away,
Thy dreadful arm is stretch'd out still!

The people still to evil sold
Fear not Thy utmost wrath to meet;
While treason, and rebellion bold
Lift up their voice in every street:
Quell'd for a season and repress'd,
But not extirpated, they strive
To rouse the many-headed beast,
And all the work of hell revive.

America her felons pours,
Her savages, a chosen band,
Assassins skill'd at midnight hours,
To spread destruction through the land,

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Deeds which humanity disowns,
To perpetrate, the villains come,
And Britain's most apostate sons
Conspire to seal their country's doom.

Wherefore should we be stricken more,
When all Thy strokes our guilt increase?
O that the evil day were o'er!
O that our sins and plagues might cease!
Vanquish'd by Thy own people's prayer,
Who day and night for mercy sue,
Spare the devoted nation, spare,
And give the many to the few.

The people of Thy wrath abase,
The proud metropolis confound,
A murmuring, vile, rebellious race,
Where Satan's darkest works abound;
Where emulous of blackest times,
They glory in the martyr's blood,
Accumulate their foulest crimes,
And crown them with ingratitude.

Jesus, our injured king incline
His foes to pity and forgive,
And turn their hearts by grace Divine,
And bid them for Thy glory live:
Obedient to their king and Thee,
Let all the loyal nation bow:
And tell our hearts the thing shall be,
And seal it on our conscience now!

University of Virginia Library

HYMN X.

[Most righteous God of boundless power]