4 For Him shall prayer unceasing

And daily vows ascend;
His kingdom still increasing,

A kingdom without end:
The tide of time shall never

His covenant remove;
His Name shall stand forever,
That Name to us is Love.

James Montgomery, 1822.

Occasional.

6s & 4s.

537 MY country, 'tis of thee,

Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing:

Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims' pride,
From every mountain side
Let freedom ring!

2 My native country! thee,
Land of the noble free,
Thy name I love :

I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills;
My heart with rapture thrills
Like that above.

3 Let music swell the breeze,
And ring from all the trees
Sweet freedom's song!

Let mortal tongues awake ;
Let all that breathe partake;
Let rocks their silence break,
The sound prolong!

4 Our fathers' God! to Thee,
Author of liberty,

To Thee we sing :

Long may our land be bright
With freedom's holy light;
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God, our King!

S. F. Smith, 1843.

L. M.

538 GOD, beneath Thy guiding hand Our exiled fathers crossed the sea;

And when they trod the wintry strand,

With prayer and psalm they worshipped Thee.
2 Thou heardst, well pleased, the song, the prayer :
Thy blessing came; and still its power
Shall onward through all ages bear
The memory of that holy hour.

3 Laws, freedom, truth, and faith in God

Came with those exiles o'er the waves;
And where their pilgrim feet have trod,
The God they trusted guards their graves.

4 And here Thy name, O God of love,

Their children's children shall adore,
Till these eternal hills remove,

And spring adorns the earth no more.

Leonard Bacon, 1850.

8, 8s, & 6s.

539 WHEN, Lord, to this our Western land,

Led by Thy providential hand,

Our wandering fathers came,

Their ancient homes, their friends in youth,
Sent forth the heralds of Thy truth,
To keep them in Thy name.

2 Then, through our solitary coast,
The desert features soon were lost;
Thy temples there arose ;

Our shores, as culture made them fair,
Were hallowed by Thy rites, by prayer,
And blossomed as the rose.

3 And O, may we repay this debt
To regions solitary yet

Within our spreading land!

There, brethren, from our common home,
Still westward, like our fathers, roam;
Still guided by Thy hand.

4 Saviour! we own this debt of love,
O shed Thy Spirit from above,

To move each Christian breast;
Till heralds shall Thy truth proclaim
And temples rise to fix Thy name
Through all our desert West.

Do Thou our country save
By Thy great might.

2 For her our prayer shall rise
To God, above the skies;
On Him we wait:

Thou who art ever nigh,

Guarding with watchful eye,
To Thee aloud we cry,

God save the State!

John S. Dwight, 1844.

C. M.

541 ORD, Thou hast scourged our guilty land, Behold Thy people mourn;

Shall vengeance ever guide Thy hand?
Shall mercy ne'er return?

2 Beneath the terrors of Thine eye,
Earth's haughty towers decay;
Thy frowning mantle spreads the sky,
And mortals melt away.

3 Our Zion trembles at the stroke,
And dreads Thy lifted hand;
O heal the people Thou hast broke,
And save the sinking land.

4 Exalt Thy banner in the field,

For those that fear Thy name ;

From barbarous hosts our nation shield,
And put our foes to shame.

5 Attend our armies to the fight,
And be their guardian God;

In vain shall numerous powers unite
Against Thy lifted rod.

6 Our troops beneath Thy guiding hand,

Shall gain a glad renown :

'Tis God who makes the feeble stand,

And treads the mighty down.

Isaac Watts, 1719.

PSALM CXLVII. C. M.

542 WITH songs and honors sounding loud,

Address the Lord on high;

Over the heavens He spreads His cloud,
And waters veil the sky.

2 He sends His showers of blessings down,
To cheer the plains below;

He makes the grass the mountains crown,
And corn in valleys grow.

3 His steady counsels change the face
Of the declining year;

He bids the sun cut short his race,
And wintry days appear.

4 His hoary frost, His fleecy snow,
Descend and clothe the ground;
The liquid streams forbear to flow,
In icy fetters bound.

5 He sends His word, and melts the snow,
The fields no longer mourn;
He calls the warmer gales to blow,
And bids the spring return.

6 The changing wind, the flying cloud,
Obey His mighty word;

With songs and honors sounding loud,
Praise ye the sovereign Lord.