The poetical works of John and Charles Wesley

Thanks be to God, the God of power,
Who shelter'd us in danger's hour;
The God of truth, who heard the prayer,
Let all His faithfulness declare;
Who sent us succours from above,
Let all adore the God of love!

God sitting on His holy seat
Compels the heathen to submit,
The grasshoppers of earth He sees,
And mocks their prosperous wickedness,
Frustrates their counsels with a frown,
And turns their Babels upside down.

His eye observed the dark design,
To blast our rightful monarch's line,
The scheme in Satan's conclave laid,
Improved by Rome's unerring head,
To gall us with their yoke abhorr'd,
And plant their faith with fire and sword.

He saw the serpent's egg break forth,
The cloud arising in the north,
He let the slighted mischief spread,
And hang in thunder o'er our head;
And while we scorn'd our abject foes,
The drop into a torrent rose.

Lured by the grateful scent of blood,
The vultures hasten'd to their food,
The aliens urged their rapid way,
Resolved to die, or win the day;
Madly resolved their doom to brave,
And gain a kingdom or a grave.

Swell'd to an host, the daring few
Through ours as waving lightning flew,
Rush'd on with unresisted power,
And scaled the wall, and storm'd the tower,
While God seem'd pleased their cause to bless,
And cursed them with a short success.

Drunk with the bold aspiring hope,
Behold them march triumphant up;
Of conquest fatally secure,
They vow to make our ruin sure,
And shout around our threaten'd towers,
“The day, the crown, and all is ours!”

Who was it then dispersed the snare,
And choked those ravening dogs of war?
Jehovah curb'd their furious speed,
Jehovah sent the panic dread,
And damp'd and fill'd them with dismay,
And scared the vultures from their prey.

His hidden power controll'd the foe,
And said, “No farther shalt thou go.”
His bridle in their mouths they found,
And fled subdued without a wound,
(As stubble by the whirlwind driven,)
They fled before the frown of heaven.

Thanks be to God, the God of power,
Who shelter'd us in danger's hour;
The God of truth, who heard the prayer,
Let all His faithfulness declare;
Who sent deliverance from above,
Let all adore the God of love!

University of Virginia Library

HYMN II.

[Thanks be to God, the God of power]