National Judgments and Mercies a Call to Repentance. Nov. 1757.

Representative Text

1 Long has divine compassion strove
With this rebellious land;
O justice, long has pleading love
Withheld thy dreadful hand.

2 At lengths, ye people, lift your eyes,
Your crimes no more pursue;
Behold the gathering tempest rise,
And tremble at the view!

3 See, fraught with vengeance, how it spreads!
To mercy instant fly;
E’er yet it burst upon your heads,
Repent, repent—or die.

4 Late raging storm, ’twas mercy stayed,
Her voice destruction heard,
Th’impetuous winds her voice obeyed,
And awful justice spared.

5 Shall every warning be in vain
Your ruin to prevent?
Indulgent mercy calls again,
Return, repent! repent!

6 The voice, ye people, hear with awe,
O hear, and turn to God;
Lest mercy, long abused, withdraw,
And leave you to the rod.

7 Almighty God, Thy powerful grace
Can change us, and forgive;
Can save a guilty rebel race,
And say, Repent, and live.

8 O let Thy powerful grace appear,
And justice sheath her sword;
Then shall a rescued nation fear
And love and praise the Lord.

Source: The Cyber Hymnal #9474

Author: Anne Steele

Anne Steele was the daughter of Particular Baptist preacher and timber merchant William Steele. She spent her entire life in Broughton, Hampshire, near the southern coast of England, and devoted much of her time to writing. Some accounts of her life portray her as a lonely, melancholy invalid, but a revival of research in the last decade indicates that she had been more active and social than what was previously thought. She was theologically conversant with Dissenting ministers and "found herself at the centre of a literary circle that included family members from various generations, as well as local literati." She chose a life of singleness to focus on her craft. Before Christmas in 1742, she declined a marriage proposal from contemporar… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Long has divine compassion strove
Title: National Judgments and Mercies a Call to Repentance. Nov. 1757.
Author: Anne Steele (1760)
Language: English
Publication Date: 1760
Copyright: This text is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before 1929.

Tune

BANGOR (Tansur)

Traditionally used for Montgomery's text and for Peter Abelard's "Alone Thou Goest Forth, O Lord," BANGOR comes from William Tans'ur's A Compleat Melody: or the Harmony of Syon (the preface of which is dated 1734). In that collection the tune was a three-part setting for Psalm 12 (and for Psalm 11 i…

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The Cyber Hymnal #9474
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The Cyber Hymnal #9474

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