How are thy servants blest, O Lord!

First Line How are thy servants blest, O Lord!
Author Joseph Addison
Description

Ballad; Hymn [Death, afterlife; Devotional writing, religious belief; Nature; Travel].

Transcribed from A Select collection of modern poems. By the most eminent hands. Viz. Milton. Mr. Prior.... 2nd ed., 1750, pp. 191–192. Eighteenth Century Collections Online, GALE|CB0130548092. 

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Transcription

How are thy servants blest, O Lord,

How sure is their defence!

Eternal wisdom is their guide,

Their help, Omnipotence.

 

In foreign realms and lands remote,

Supported by thy care,

Thro' burning climes I pass'd unhurt,

And breath'd in tainted air.

 

Thy mercy sweeten'd ev'ry foil,

Made ev'ry region please:

The hoary Alpine hills it warm'd,

And smooth'd the Tyrrhene seas.

 

Think, O my soul, devoutly think,

How with affrighted eyes,

Thou saw'st the wide extended deep

In all its horrors rise!

 

Confusion dwelt in ev'ry face,

And fear in ev'ry heart;

When waves on waves, and gulphs on gulphs,

O'ercame the pilot's art.

 

Yet then from all my griefs, O Lord,

Thy mercy set me free,

Whilst in the confidence of pray'r

My soul took hold on thee.

 

For tho' in dreadful whirls we hung

High on the broken wave,

I knew thou wert not slow to hear,

Nor impotent to save.

 

The storm was laid, the winds retir'd,

Obedient to thy will;

The sea that roar'd at thy command,

At thy command was still.

 

In midst of dangers, fears and death,

Thy goodness I'll adore,

And praise thee for thy mercies past,

And humbly hope for more.

 

My life, if thou preserv'st my life,

Thy sacrifice shall be;

And death, if death must be my doom,

Shall join my soul to thee.