University of Virginia Library

Shepherd of Israel, bow thine ear;
O Thou our pray'r indulgent hear,
Who Joseph's pasture hast prepar'd,
His Guide by day, by night his Guard.
Betwixt the Cherubs seated high,
Glad with thy beams our longing eye:
With All who from Manasses claim
Their birth, and All of Ephraim's name,
Each hostile pow'r by Thee o'erthrown,
Let Benjamin thy presence own;
Thine aid, great God, intreated give,
And teach our fainting hope to live.

O turn us, Lord, thy face display,
And grief and fear shall fly away.

How long shall Israel's Offspring see
Thy wrath (while thus with bended knee
Their supplicating hands they spread,)
Smoke unextinguish'd o'er their head?
Her food the bread of tears, her draught
With sorrow's largest mixture fraught,
Sad Sion sees contending foes
Her sons, their destin'd prey, inclose,
And hears, with inward anguish torn,
The shouts of Obloquy and Scorn.

O turn us, Lord, thy face display,
And grief and fear shall fly away.

Transplanted by thy fost'ring hand,
Behold a Vine from Egypt's Land
(Each Pow'r in adverse league combin'd
To just excision first consign'd,)
To Canaan's shores convey'd: its bed
By Thee prepar'd, its root outspread
Far as the utmost coast extends;
While o'er the Hills its shade ascends,
And round the Cedar's loftiest boughs
Its cov'ring veil luxuriant throws.
Long cherish'd by thy care it stood;
Here, verging tow'rd th' Assyrian Flood,
In circuit wide the earth it crown'd,
And, There, the Ocean mark'd its bound.
But now, in sad reverse, (Ah! why?)
By Thee o'erthrown its fences lie,
Its fruits expos'd beside the way,
To each rapacious hand a prey.
The savage Boar with restless toil
Uproots it from the loosen'd soil,
And ev'ry Monster of the wood
Crops from its branch the obvious food.
Leader of Hosts, and Israel's Lord!
Return: Thy succours oft implor'd
Extend; from Heav'n's high seat incline
Thy eyes, and visit this thy Vine.
Behold the offspring of thy hand,
The Plant, which Thou hadst bid to stand,
And strengthen'd by thy pow'r defy
Each storm that rends the wintry sky:
The gath'ring flames its trunk surround,
Its ruin'd honours strew the ground.
Beneath the terrors of thine eye
We tremble, Lord, we faint, we die.
O let the Man whom, arm'd with might,
Thy hand ordains our cause to right,
By Thee, great God, supported stand;
And save, O save, a sinking Land.
So ne'er shall Sin our steps betray
Again in devious paths to stray,
But while, by Thee redeem'd, we brave
The threats of the devouring grave,
Each knee in pray'r to Thee shall bend,
Thy praise from ev'ry tongue ascend.

O turn us, Lord, thy face display,
And grief and fear shall fly away.