Wesley Corpus

Thee the Christian-infidels From thy own world exclude, "Skill and stratagem prevails And strength, and multitude:" They on these alone depend; And if thou make thy mercy known, If thine arm deliverance send, They cry, "'Tis all their own!" Fifty thousand Britons brave To the New World pass o'er, Never yet th' Atlantic wave So huge a burthen bore: Who the prowess can withstand Of fleets and hosts invincible? Lo! They fly, they reach the land, They see, and conquer all! But if thou in anger frown, No longer on their side, O how suddenly cast down, They suffer for their pride! Let but one his trust betray, A sad reverse their legions know, Yield and waste and sink away Before a conquer'd foe! Yet th' infatuated crowd Will not thy hand confess, When thou dost abase the proud, And when the abject raise; When they pass beneath the yoke, Thy scourge the chance of war they call; In the instruments o'erlook The sovereign cause of all. Sir William Howe Page 19 But the men who fear thy name, Thy power and wisdom own; Now as yesterday the same, Thou sittest on the throne: Good, the creature of thy will, Thou only dost to mortals send, Only thou permittest ill, Which all in good shall end. In this last tremendous blow † Thy righteousness we see, Thousands taken by the foe, Tho' flush'd with victory: Scandal of the British name, Their brethren they no more oppress: Let their glory end in shame, And let their rapines cease. Such their country's cause to fight, Thou wilt not, Lord, employ, Without human power or might Who canst our foes destroy; When the conquerors come, prepar'd To execute their furious boasts, Then thy mighty arm is bar'd, And scatters all their hosts. Vapours, fire, and hail, and snow Are servants of our Lord, Winds by thy direction blow, And storms fulfil thy word; Storms go forth at thy command, And with resistless fury sweep, Dash our foes against the strand, Or plunge them in the deep. This the Lord himself hath done, Which, wondrous in our eyes, Fills us, who thy love have known, With rapturous surprise: Jesus, at whose throne we bow, In thee we full affiance have: Surely thou hast sav'd us now, And shalt for ever save! † Lord Cornwallis Page 20 Hymn XII. Part the Second.