Great God
the nations of the earth
Are by creation Thine;
And in Thy works
by all beheld
Thine obvious glories shine.
In day and night
in sun and showers
Thy tender care we trace;
And providential goodness reigns
Thro’ all the human race.
But
Lord
Thy greater love has sent
Thy Gospel to mankind
Unveiling what rich stores of grace
Are treasured in Thy mind.
Through Christ
the ransom of our souls
With sinners Thou art pleased:
Thy flaming darts are laid aside
Thy vengeance is appeased.
A fountain
too
Thy mercy shows
To heal the plagues of sin;
The noisome sores that taint the life
And leprosy within.
Does not Thy Word assure our souls
Of realms of bliss on high
That everlasting glory waits
To crown us when we die?
Does not our faith see death disarmed
Our triumph o’er the tomb
And dust and ashes mount the skies
Raised in immortal bloom?
Lord
when shall these glad tidings spread
The spacious earth around
Till every tribe
and every soul
Shall hear the joyful sound?
O when shall Afric’s sable sons
Enjoy the heav’nly Word
And vassals long enslaved become
The freedmen of the Lord?
When shall th’untutored Indian tribes
A dark bewildered race
Sit down at our Emanuel’s feet
And learn and feel His grace?
Haste
sovereign mercy
and transform
Their cruelty to love;
Soften the tiger to a lamb
The vulture to a dove!
Smile
Lord
on each divine attempt
To spread the Gospel’s rays
And build on sin’s demolished throne
The temples of Thy praise!
Send forth Thy Word
and let it fly
Armed with Thy Spirit’s power
And thousands shall confess its sway
And bless the saving hour.
Beneath the influence its grace
The barren wastes shall rise
With sudden greens and fruits arrayed
A blooming paradise.
Father
is not Thy promise pledged
To Thine exalted Son
That thro’ the nations of the earth
Thy Word of Life shall run?
Ask
and I give the heathen lands
For Thine inheritance
And to the world’s remotest shores
Thine empire shall advance.
Hast Thou not said
the blinded Jews
Shall their Redeemer own
While Gentiles to His standard crowd
And bow before His Throne?
Are not all kingdoms
tribes
and tongues
Under th’expanse of Heav’n
To the dominion of Thy Son
Without exemption giv’n?
From east to west
from north to south
Then be His name adored!
Europe
with all thy millions shout
Hosannas to the Lord.
Asia and Africa
resound
From shore to shore His fame;
And thou
America
in songs
Redeeming love proclaim.
When Jesus shall ascend His throne
The universal King
What boundless grace
what joys unknown
Shall His salvation bring?
True piety shall strike its root
In each regenerate heart
Shall in a growth divine arise
And heav’nly fruits impart
Honor
dependence on our God
With justice
truth
and love
Their glories thro’ our world shall spread
As thro’ the world above.
Peace
with her olives crowned
shall stretch
Her wings from shore to shore:
No trump shall rouse the rage of war
No murderous cannon roar.
Blessings in their brightest forms
Shall thro’ the Earth abound;
With kindness shall each bosom burn
With joy each heart shall bound.
Lord
for these days we wait: these days
Are in Thy Word foretold.
Fly swifter
sun and stars
and bring
This promised age of gold!
When Christ assumes His throne
this song
Shall thro’ the world resound:
See Jesus
who on Calvary bled
With endless glories crowned.
He in impartial righteousness
Shall judge the saints among
Shall bow propitious to the poor
And vindicate their wrong.
Princes and magistrates shall peace
And equity maintain
As hills and mountains down the vales
Diffuse th’enriching rain.
He shall relieve the sons of want
And break the tyrant’s jaws;
Ages shall upon ages roll
Crowned with His vast applause.
As showers descend in silver drops
On meadows newly mown
So shall His sacred Spirit send
His quickening influence down.
The saints shall flourish in His days
And peace
His dear delight
Shall fill the world
long as the moon
Adorns the reign of night.
From clime to clime
from sea to sea
His empire shall extend
From where Euphrates’ torrent rolls
To earth’s remotest end.
Barbarians shall their fierceness lose
And bow before His seat
And foes
that dared withstand His power
Lie vanquished at His feet.
When Christ is throned on Zion’s hill
The nations’ sovereign king
Princes from realms
from isles remote
Shall their oblations bring.
All monarchs shall in homage bend
To His superior sway;
All people shall His statutes learn
And joyfully obey.
The soul that cries to Him shall find
Salvation in distress;
Of hopeless grief He hears the groan
And flies to its redress.
Widows
and orphans pined with woe
His mercy will befriend;
From every snare
and every foe
Their threatened lives defend.
To Him the choicest stores of earth
In honor shall be giv’n
And prayers and praises to His name
Like incense breathe to Heav’n.
The seed
in scanty handfuls sown
Upon the mountain tops
Nourished by Heav’n’s enlivening beams
By Heav’n’s enriching drops
Shall in an ample harvest rise
Shall overspread the ground
Shall shake like Lebanon with woods
Of towering cedar crowned.
The cities
thro’ the world dispersed
By crowds of men possessed
Shall flourish like the blooming meads
In spring’s embroidery dressed.
Long as the sun shall rule the day
Mankind shall sound His fame:
In Him all nations shall be blest
And all shall bless His name.
Immortal and unbounded praise
Let Israel’s God receive:
These miracles of power and grace
He only could achieve.
Now let our Lord
as summer suns
Make haste the world to gild
Shine all abroad till all our globe
Is with His glories filled!
Amen
with joy divine let Earth’s
Unnumbered myriads cry;
Amen
with joy divine let Heav’n’s
Unnumbered choirs reply!