Hymns on the Expected Invasion, 15

Is this the guilty nation. Lord,
(Pei-mit us to inquire,)
Now to be visited by sword.

And purified by fire?
No longer can Thy wrath delay
An harden'd people's doom,
And must we see the evil day,
And must the spoiler come?
Thou wilt not hide the thing decreed,
From those Thou call'st Thine own,
From Abrahanis faithful praying seed,
Who trust in Thee alone.
Even now Thine angry rod we hear,
Thy Spirit's warning cry,
And feel the visitation near,
And to the mountain fly.
Thou hast to us Thy secret shown.

Who tremble at Thy name.
And sigh, and pray, and wrestle on
For ovlx Jerusalem.
To deprecate the fatal hour,
We on our faces fall:
Ah! let not. Lord, Thy wrath devour,
Thy curse o'erwhelm us all.
If now, on such a land as this,
Thou must avenged be,
Yet snatch us from the dark abyss
Of endless misery:
Whorae'er Thy will appoints to die,
To them repentance give,
And let them with their closing eye
Behold Thy cross, and live.
If now the alien hosts break in,
To spoil our wasted shore,
Let mercy interpose between,
And circumscribe their power;
While arm'd with Heaven's avenging word,
The ready murderers stand.
Revoke their charge, nor let the sword
Go through our sinful land.
Thou canst the meditated blow
By ways unseen divert,
With terror strike the fiercest foe,
And quell the proudest heart:
Thou, whom the winds and seas obey,
Look; and a frown of Thine
Shall chase the hornets far away,
And blast their dire design.
This is our confidence of hope,
Thou dost their threatenings see,
And wilt not give Thy people up
To Popish cruelty:
Whate'er Thy justice doth below,
Thou shalt Thy church defend.
For Christ is in our hearts, we know,
And heaven in our end.