1 When will you save the people?
O God of mercy, when?
Not states and corporations!
But children, women, men!
Flowers of your heart, O God, are they;
Let them not pass, like weeds, away,
Their heritge a sunless day;
God, save the people!
2 Shall crime breed crime forever,
Strength aiding still the strong?
Is it your will, Creator,
That we shall toil for wrong?
"No," say your mountains; "no," your skies;
The clouded sun shall brighty rise,
And song be heard instead of sighs;
God, save the people!
3 When will you save the people?
O God of merccy, when?
The people, Lord, the people,
But children, women, men!
God, save the people; yours we are,
Your children, as your angels fair,
From vice, oppression, and despair;
God, save the people!
Source: Worship in Song: A Friends Hymnal #292
First Line: | When wilt Thou save the people? |
Title: | When Wilt Thou Save the People |
Author: | Ebenezer Elliott (1850) |
Meter: | 7.6.7.6.8.8.8.5 |
Language: | English |
Copyright: | Public Domain |
When wilt Thou save the people? E. Elliott. [National Hymn.] From his More Verse and Prose, 1850, i., p. 80, into the Congregational Church Hymnal, 1887.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)