(by supposition) <br /> <br />An Hymn set forth to be sung by the Great Assembly <br />at Newtown, [Mass.] Mo. 12. 1. 1636. <br /> <br />[Written by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES, eldest son of Rev. <br />ABIEL HOLMES, eighth Pastor of the First Church in <br />Cambridge, Massachusetts.] <br /> <br />LORD, Thou hast led us as of old <br />Thine Arm led forth the chosen Race <br />Through Foes that raged, through Floods that roll'd, <br />To Canaan's far-off Dwelling-Place. <br /> <br />Here is Thy bounteous Table spread, <br />Thy Manna falls on every Field, <br />Thy Grace our hungering Souls hath fed, <br />Thy Might hath been our Spear and Shield. <br /> <br />Lift high Thy Buckler, Lord of Hosts! <br />Guard Thou Thy Servants, Sons and Sires, <br />While on the Godless heathen Coasts <br />They light Thine Israel's Altar-fires! <br /> <br />The salvage Wilderness remote <br />Shall hear Thy Works and Wonders sung; <br />So from the Rock that Moses smote <br />The Fountain of the Desart sprung. <br /> <br />Soon shall the slumbering Morn awake, <br />From wandering Stars of Errour freed, <br />When Christ the Bread of Heaven shall break <br />For Saints that own a common Creed. <br /> <br />The Walls that fence His Flocks apart <br />Shall crack and crumble in Decay, <br />And every Tongue and every Heart <br />Shall welcome in the new-born Day. <br /> <br />Then shall His glorious Church rejoice <br />His Word of Promise to recall,-- <br />ONE SHELTERING FOLD, ONE SHEPHERD'S VOICE, <br />ONE GOD AND FATHER OVER ALL!<br /><br />Oliver Wendell Holmes<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/hymn-the-word-of-promise/
