3 Faith of our fathers! faith and prayer Shall keep our country true to thee; And through the truth that comes from God,

Our land shall then indeed be free.

Faith of our fathers, holy faith!
We will be true to thee till death

4 Faith of our fathers! we will love

Both friend and foe in all our strife: And preach thee, too, as love knows how, By kindly deeds and virtuous life. Faith of our fathers, holy faith!

We will be true to thee till death.
Frederick W. Faber, 1849, alt..

442

GOD

Ten 8'8

OD of the nations, who hast led
Thy children since the world began,
Through doubt and struggle, pain and tears,
Unfolding thy eternal plan;

From countless hilltops as of old
The fire upon the altar flares;
Through countless rites, in countless
tongues,

Men offer their imperfect prayers;
Hasten the time of our release,
Bring in thy reign of truth and peace.

2 O Jesus Christ, Incarnate Son,

Who bore our flesh that men might see The Vision of the Perfect Life

Fashioned in their humanity;

By all thy words of heavenly truth,
By all thy deeds of mercy wrought,

By all the passion of thy cross,

By the redemption thou hast brought;
Hasten the time of our release,
Bring in thy reign of truth and peace.

3 O Holy Spirit, who dost touch
The prophets with thy sacred fire,
Eternal Wisdom to whose light
All seekers after truth aspire;
Behold the warring sons of men,

The helpless by the strong oppressed,
The truth with error still concealed,
The evil grudgingly confessed;
Hasten the time of our release,
Bring in thy reign of truth and peace.

4 O God Triune, thy Church_to-day
In penitence before thee kneels,
Mourning her years of slothful ease,
Her deafness to the world's appeals;
Divided where she should be one,
Enamoured of a lesser strife,
Tithing the mint and cummin while
Men perish for the Bread of Life;
Hasten the time of our release,
Bring in thy reign of truth and peace.

5 Restore to us the vision, Lord,

Descend with fires of Pentecost; Our tongues unloose, our hearts inflame, To preach the Gospel to the lost: Here at thy feet our prayer is made, Here life and wealth we dedicate; Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, Lord, thy anointing we await; Hasten the time of our release,

Bring in thy reign of truth and peace.

Amen.

Frederick Edwards, 1906

Also the following

182 To thee our God we fly 519 Ancient of Days

443

A

Old and New Bear

FEW more years shall roll,

A few more seasons come,

S.M.D.

And we shall be with those that rest
Asleep within the tomb;

Then, O my Lord, prepare

My soul for that great day;
O wash me in thy precious blood,
And take my sins away.

2 A few more suns shall set

O'er these dark hills of time,
And we shall be where suns are not,
A far serener clime:

Then, O my Lord, prepare

My soul for that blest day;
O wash me in thy precious blood,
And take my sins away.

3 A few more storms shall beat
On this wild rocky shore,
And we shall be where tempests cease,
And surges swell no more:
Then, O my Lord, prepare
My soul for that calm day;
O wash me in thy precious blood,
And take my sins away.

4 A few more struggles here,
A few more partings o'er,

A few more toils, a few more tears,
And we shall weep no more:
Then, O my Lord, prepare
My soul for that bright day;
O wash me in thy precious blood,
And take my sins away.

5 'Tis but a little while

And he shall come again,

Who died that we might live, who lives
That we with him may reign:
Then, O my Lord, prepare
My soul for that glad day;
O wash me in thy precious blood,
And take my sins away. Amen.

444

R

Horatius Bonar, 1848

L.M.

OING out, wild bells, to the wild sky, The flying cloud, the frosty light: The year is dying in the night; Ring out, wild bells, and let him die

2 Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow The year is going, let him go;

Ring out the false, ring in the true.

3 Ring out the grief that saps the mind,
For those that here we see no more;
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.

4 Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;

Ring in the love of truth and right, Ring in the common love of good.

5 Ring out old shapes of foul disease,
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

6 Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.

Alfred Tennyson, 1850

445

C.M.

GOD, our help in ages past,

Our shelter from the stormy blast
And our eternal home:

2 Under the shadow of thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is thine arm alone,
And our defence is sure.

3 Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting thou art God,
To endless years the same.

4 A thousand ages in thy sight
Are like an evening gone;

Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.

5 Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;

They fly, forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the opening day.