To thee, O Lord, I made my humble pray'r

Representative Text

1 To thee, O Lord, I made my humble pray'r,
Thee I implor'd, and gracious thou didst hear.
2 To thee alone in my distress I pray'd,
With dreadful ills when I was sore dismay'd;
To thee the live-long night held up my hands,
Nor wou'd receive the solace of my friends.
3 On thee alone relying, thee I chose,
To heal my heart, to dissipate my woes;
My soul with deep, with bitter anguish pain'd,
To thee I therefore heavily complain'd.
4 And well might I complain, for sleep no more
Wou'd o'er my eyes exert his healing pow'r;
Tho' on my limbs a heavy stupor hung,
And my continued anguish chain'd my tongue.
5 'Twas then my mind revolv'd my former days,
When thee I sung in sweet harmonious lays;
6 My grateful praises on the tuneful lyre,
The hymns of joy thy mercies did inspire;
With these ideas long my soul was fraught,
And thus wou'd I indulge the pensive thought:
7 "Ah! will th' all-high make me no more his care?
"Shall I no more his gracious goodness share?
8 "Ah! will his mercy now no more prevail,
"And is it possible his truth should fail?
9 "Has he his great beneficence forgot?
"Will dire resentment bring his love to nought?"
10 Soon I repented of the vain surmise;
Thy ways of old I set before my eyes,
The ever-gracious deeds thy hand had done,
The various mercies thou hadst constant shewn;
12 The griefs, the dangers, thou hadst chac'd away,
The quick relief thou gav'st without delay.
13 Yes; sov'reign ruler, I thy justice see;
For truth, for mercy, who is like to thee?
14 To the whole earth the wonders of thy pow'r
Shew'd thee the universal governor.
15 When struck proud Pharaoh with a dread alarm
Thy favour'd tribes, them, by thy mighty arm,
16 Didst thou redeem; thy arm the waters saw,
The troubled depths, and they beheld with awe.
17 The heavy clouds obey'd thy great command,
And delug'd with their watery stores the land;
18 Fell thy destroying hail, thy thunders roar'd;
Their rapid fires thy forky lightnings pour'd.
19 And when thy people Pharaoh's fury fled;
When Moses and his sacred brother led
Them thro' the deep, and strait pursued the foe;
Back on the hostile bands the waters flow;
Fain they'd retreat; but their attempts are vain;
Sudden they perish in th' o'er-whelming main:
While, as his fleecy care the shepherd leads,
Thou guid'st them thro' the sea; the sea recedes
Stood on a heap the sea at thy command;
Secure they pass, and joyful reach the strand.