The Lord our God be with us, as He was with our fathers: let Him not leave us, nor forsake us: That He may incline our hearts unto Him, to walk in all His ways, and to keep His commandments, and His statutes, and His judgments, which He commanded our fathers.
1 Kings 8:57–58
Words: Sidney Dyer, in The Psalmist, edited by Baron Stow & Samuel F. Smith (Boston, Massachusetts: Gould, Kendall & Lincoln, 1843), number 985. Public humiliation.
Music: Abbotsford Catholische geistliche Gesänge (Andernach, Germany: 1608) (🔊 pdf nwc).
If you know where to get a good picture of Dyer (head-and-shoulders, at least 200×300 pixels),
Great Maker of unnumbered worlds,
And whom unnumbered worlds adore—
Whose goodness all Thy creatures share,
While nature trembles at Thy power—
Thine is the hand that moves the spheres,
That wakes the wind, and lifts the sea;
And man, who moves the lord of earth,
Acts but the part assigned by Thee.
While suppliant crowds implore Thine aid,
To Thee we raise the humble cry;
Thine altar is the contrite heart,
Thine incense the repentant sigh.
O, may our land, in this her hour,
Confess Thy hand, and bless the rod,
By penitence make Thee her friend,
And find in Thee a guardian God.