Acts 12:5: The mournful church, of fames bereft

The mournful church, of fames bereft,
(Who bleeds his Lord to glorify,)
Beholds the zealous Peter left,
But left in bonds and doom'd to die;
Helpless, disconsolate, distress'd,
With pious, unavailing care
To save her minister oppress'd,
She finds her sole resource in prayer.

No other arms but prayer she knows
(Which mix'd with tears to heaven ascends)
To stop the fury of her foes,
Or aid her persecuted friends;
The fervent prayer of faith Divine
Cannot be offer'd up in vain,
When all in one petition join
They must from God their suit obtain.

What shall the Spirit's will defeat,
The joint request to God made known
When all the race of facob meet
And Israel's hosts besiege His throne!
When Jesus in His members prays,
Their prayer redeems the saint from death,
Their prayer the bloody current stays,
And plucks the prey from Satan's teeth.