HYMN CCLXXVI.
8.8.8.8
James Montgomery
The Poor praying for Bread in Time of Scarcity.
To God most awful and most high, Who form'd the earth, the sea, the sky; To Him on whom all worlds depend, Our humbled hearts in sighs we send. | 295 Will He who hears the ravens cry, Reject our prayers, and bid us die? Will He refuse His keep to yield, Who clothes the lilies of the field? | Pale famine lifts at His command, Her withering arm, and blasts the land; The harvests perish at her breath, Her train are want, disease, and death. | But when He smiles the desert blooms, New life is born among the tombs; O'er the glad plains abundance teems, And plenty rolls in bounteous streams. | Father of grace whom we adore, Bless Thy large family--the poor; The poor on Thee alone depend, Continue Thou the poor man's friend. | Content to live by toil and pain, May we eternal riches gain; Meanwhile, by Thy free goodness fed, Give us this day our daily bread. | |