For the 5th of November

Representative Text

1 To thee, almighty God, we bring
The humble tribute of our songs;
O teach our thankful hearts to sing,
Or praise will languish on their tongues.

2 While Britain (favor'd of the skies)
Recalls the wonders God hath wrought;
Let grateful joy adoring rise,
And warm to rapture every thought.

3 When hell and Rome combin'd their power,
And doom'd these isles their certain prey;
Thy hand forbade the fatal hour,
Their impious plots in ruin lay.

4 Again our restless cruel foes
Resum'd, avow'd their black design;
Again to save us God arose,
And Britain own'd the hand divine.

5 Why, gracious God, is Britain sav'd?
Why bless'd with liberty and light?
Nor by fell tyranny enslav'd,
Nor lost in superstition's night?

6 Not for our sake, we conscious own;
A wretched, vile, ungrateful race:
'Tis done to make thy glory known;
To show the wonders of thy grace.

7 The wonders of thy grace complete;
Reform this wretched guilty land!
Let thankful love, beneath thy feet,
Confess thy kind, thy guardian hand!

8 Let every age adore thy name,
While nature's circling wheels shall roll!
Thy mercies every tongue proclaim,
And sound thy praise from pole to pole.

Source: A Selection of Hymns: from the best authors, intended to be an appendix to Dr. Watt's psalms and hymns. (1st Am. ed.) #DXXXIV

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Author: Anne Steele

Anne Steele was the daughter of Particular Baptist preacher and timber merchant William Steele. She spent her entire life in Broughton, Hampshire, near the southern coast of England, and devoted much of her time to writing. Some accounts of her life portray her as a lonely, melancholy invalid, but a revival of research in the last decade indicates that she had been more active and social than what was previously thought. She was theologically conversant with Dissenting ministers and "found herself at the centre of a literary circle that included family members from various generations, as well as local literati." She chose a life of singleness to focus on her craft. Before Christmas in 1742, she declined a marriage proposal from contemporar… Go to person page >

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