 | English Roses |  |
GOD OF OUR FATHERS.
God of our fathers, and this land
On which Thy mandate falls
To do the working of Thy hand,
With liberties as walls;
May honour be the glory still
And bulwark of our State,
To buttress us through good and ill,
While justice is its gate.
O bid our men and women be,
Who breathe this larger air,
With thy own blessing brave and free
And from thy beauty fair.
On which Thy mandate falls
To do the working of Thy hand,
With liberties as walls;
May honour be the glory still
And bulwark of our State,
To buttress us through good and ill,
While justice is its gate.
O bid our men and women be,
Who breathe this larger air,
With thy own blessing brave and free
And from thy beauty fair.
God of our fathers, we have grown
To greatness at thy side,
From bitter seeds by martyrs sown
On every coast and tide;
We moulded are by fires of Ind
And storm and frozen flood,
The passion of the wild sea-wind
Makes music in our blood;
The boundlessness of rolling space,
The majesty of skies,
They march with each imperial pace
And kindle in our eyes.
To greatness at thy side,
From bitter seeds by martyrs sown
On every coast and tide;
We moulded are by fires of Ind
And storm and frozen flood,
The passion of the wild sea-wind
Makes music in our blood;
The boundlessness of rolling space,
The majesty of skies,
They march with each imperial pace
And kindle in our eyes.
God of our fathers, we are yet
The champions of the right,
And earthly suns can never set
On those who carry light;
We have no purpose but Thy plan
Which broadens with the age,
And gives to re-arisen man
The hope his heritage;
We only fight Thy battles, Lord,
The one appointed way,
And we are nothing but Thy sword
To bring the brighter day.
The champions of the right,
And earthly suns can never set
On those who carry light;
We have no purpose but Thy plan
Which broadens with the age,
124
The hope his heritage;
We only fight Thy battles, Lord,
The one appointed way,
And we are nothing but Thy sword
To bring the brighter day.
God of our fathers, lead us on
The pathway we have been,
Till the dark weary strife is gone
And earth again is green;
We are Thy servants, and the tools
That shape the shadowed lands,
Through scorching flames and iron schools,
At length to Thy commands;
But when the truth that cannot die
Makes all men's living sweet,
Let us with the foundations lie
As dust beneath Thy feet.
The pathway we have been,
Till the dark weary strife is gone
And earth again is green;
We are Thy servants, and the tools
That shape the shadowed lands,
Through scorching flames and iron schools,
At length to Thy commands;
But when the truth that cannot die
Makes all men's living sweet,
Let us with the foundations lie
As dust beneath Thy feet.
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