256HYMN CCLIII.
8.8.8.8 D
James Montgomery
Thy Kingdom come.
Written in the metre and to suit the tune of the hymn said to have been composed and set to music by Luther, and sung by him and his friends, as they entered the city of Worms, to appear before the Diet there; when, though he had reason to fear treachery and cruelty equal to that experienced by his martyred predecessor, John Huss, at the Council of Constance, he declared, while his advisers would have dissuaded him from going thither, that "if there were as many devils there as there were tiles on the houses, he would go and face them."
| Send out Thy light and truth, O God! With sound of trumpet from above; Break not the nations with Thy rod, But draw them as with cords of love; Justice and mercy meet; The work is well begun, Through every clime their feet, Who bring glad tidings, run; In earth, as heaven, Thy will be done. | | Before Thee every idol fall, Rend the false prophet's veil of lies; The fulness of the Gentiles call, Be Israel saved, let Jacob rise: Thy Kingdom come indeed, Thy church with union bless, All scripture be her creed, And every tongue confess One Lord,--the Lord our Righteousness. | | 257 Now for the travail of His soul, Messiah's peaceful reign advance; From sea to sea, from pole to pole, He claims His pledged inheritance: O Thou most mighty! gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh,-- That two-edged sword,--Thy word, By which Thy foes shall die, Then be new-born beneath Thine eye. | | So perish all Thine enemies, Their enmity alone be slain; Them, in the arms of mercy seize, Breathe, and their souls shall come again: So may Thy friends at length, Oft smitten, oft laid low, Forth, like the sun in strength, Conquering, to conquer go, Till to Thy throne all nations flow. | |