The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-06-30 00:00:00

VortiT.

THANKSGIVING HYMN.
BY WILLIAM HOWORTH , AUTHOR OF "THE REDEEMER," &C.

God of our Father, the Strength of our nation,
Our Maker, Redeemer, Preserver and Lord,
With grateful thanksgiving, with glad exultation,
We bless Thy great Name for the manifestation
Of mercy, vouchsafed in the mighty salvation►
Which Thou to our Sovereign bast deign'd to afford.
From her proud palace halls and their bright scenes of

splendour,
Light hearted, unconscious of peril she came,
With the Prince whom she loves with affection most tender
By her side, with the heart and the arm to defend her ;
With fair noble dames in her train to attend her,
Where thousands received her with loyal acclaim.
And well might the noblest of homage be paid her,
And well might her presence high plaudits excite ;
For 'twas not the crown wherewith Thou halt arrayed her,
Which first 'mongst the sovereigns of earth bath displayed

her,
But the all Thou by virtue, youth, beauty hast made her,

Constrained hearts and voices as one to unite.
Who then could have deemed in the light that was filling
The skies with its glory, the earth with its smile;
'Mid the joy that so many glad bosoms was thrilling,
One breast could be found where dark treason distilling
Its poison, each lingering virtue was chilling,
And fost'ring each passion malignant and vile ?
Yet oft when our path seems all safety and pleasure,
It leads to the brink of the precipice dread ;
Joy's song often changes to sorrow's wild measure ;
The gay buoyant heart feels affliction's bard pressure,
Its hopes, fondly cherished and prized as a treasure,
When deemed most abiding are blighted—are fled!
It was thus, in a moment when most unexpected,
The hand of the ruffian-assassin was raised ;
When England's loved Hope was the victim selected,
But the missile of death passed her by—misdirected!
Again passed her by !—"fwas Thy arm, Lord, protected !
Thy Name for this mercy for ever be praised.
The wicked, 0 Lord, in their craft are confounded,
Their subtlest devices before Thee are vain ;
But firm as the hills is their confidence founded
Whose trust is in Thee, though with perils surrounded,
For, e'en as their need is, Thy mercy unbounded
Flows forth still unfailing to bless and sustain.
Though Thou through the waste howling desert mayst send

them,
Where the Red Sea's wild waves heave and roll in their
path ;
While Egypt's fierce hosts are pursuing to rend them.
Still let them take courage, Thy arm shall defend them ;
A mighty deliv'rance shall surely attend them,
Alike from the waves and their enemies' Wrath.
Throughout the wide range of her empire extended,
On whose measureless limits the sun ne'er goes down,
Let the knees of each heart in thanksgiving be bended,
All voices as one in the anthem be blended
Of praise to our God, who hath safely defended
Our Queen in her peril, and treason o'erthrown.
And oh! may impressions deep, firm and abiding,
Of this mighty mercy sink deep in her breast,
And cause her to seek with faith's stedfast confiding,
Our God's safe protection, His hand's gracious guiding,
That while o'er the greatest of empires presiding,
For Him she may rule, and in Him may be blest.
And long on her brow may the crown greatly flourish,
While shame and confusion o'erwhehn all her foes ;
Be it her's pure Religion to guard and to cherish,
And her's, as a parent, her people to nourish,
To cause from among them repining to perish,
And gladness and peace in their homes to repose.