Ah! Whither Should We Fly?

Ah! whi­ther should we fly

In per­il and dis­tress

While all the dogs of war are nigh

The ene­mies of peace!

Almighty God of love

On Thee our souls we cast

Hide Thou our hunt­ed lives ab­ove

And save the land at last.

A leo­pard watch­es o’er

Our ci­ties night and day

Prepared with un­re­lent­ing pow­er

To spring up­on the prey:

The ali­en ar­mies wait

Lured by the scent of blood

As awful min­is­ters of fate

As thun­der­bolts of God.

Yet if our sin de­mands

Its just re­ward of pain

O let us fall in­to the hands

Of God

and not of man:

His ten­der mer­cies wound

Remorseless as the grave;

But pi­ty in Thy wrath is found

Which on­ly strikes to save.

In mea­sure then re­prove

In love Thine own chas­tise

But baf­fle

and far off re­move

Our threat­en­ing ene­mies;

Blast their de­vic­es

Lord

Nor let their coun­sel stand

Break Thou the spear

and wrest the sword

Out of the ruf­fi­an’s hand.

Thyself the men re­strain

Who our de­struct­ion seek

So shall they fierce­ly strive in vain

The sec­ret bar to break:

Their bound they can­not pass

If God as­sign their bound

And Je­sus

as a wall of brass

Our trou­bled land sur­round.

But our de­fense is sure

Whate’er ev­ent be­tide

Beneath th’Almigh­ty Shade se­cure

Thy faith­ful ones abide:

’Till all the ty­ran­ny

Of earth and hell is o’er

Jesus

Thy migh­ty name shall be

Our ada­man­tine tow­er.

Tho’ fa­mine

plague

and sword

Hang o’er our sin­ful land

The means of swift pre­ven­tion

Lord

Are ev­er in Thine hand:

Or if the curse des­cend

By sov­er­eign Love sub­dued

The curse shall bless

the ill shall end

In ever­last­ing good.