"O HOLY Father "

O HOLY Father !—just and true
Are all Thy works and words and ways,
And unto Thee alone are due
Thanksgiving and eternal praise!As children of Thy gracious care, We veil the eye—we bend the knee,
With broken words of praise and prayer, Father and God, we come to Thee

And oh, we feel Thy presence here—
Thy Awful arm in judgment bare !
Thine eye hath seen the bondman's tear—
Thine ear hath heard the bondman's prayer !

Praise—for the pride of man is low, the counsels of the wise are nought,
The fountains of repentance flow ; what hath our God in mercy wrought ?

Speed on thy work, Lord God of Hosts!And when the bondman's chain is driven, And swells from all our guilty coasts
The anthem of the free to Heaven,

Oh ,not to those, whom Thou hast led,
As with Thy cloud and fire before, but unto Thee, in fear and dread,

Be praise and glory ever more!

John G Whittier Written for the celebration of the Third Anniversary of British Emancipation, at the Broadway Tabernacle, N. Y., " First of August," 1837

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