Hymnal: The Sacred Melodeon
Date: 1848
Compiler: A S Hayden
Publisher/Printer: A S Hayden
First Line: The breaking waves dash'd high
Topic: <no topic given>
Writer: <no first name given> <no last name given>
Composer:
Meter: SM or 6s 8s and 4s
Tune: Brownsville
Hymn Number: <no hymn number given>
Page Number: 174, click to see hymnal pages
LyicsThe breaking waves dash'd high
On a stern rock-bound coast,
And the woods against a stormy sky
Their giant branches toss'd;
And the heavy night hung dark,
The hills and waters o'er,
When a band of exiles moor'd their bark
On the wild New England shore.
Proclaim the lofty praise
Of Him who once was slain,
But now is risen, thro' endless days,
To live and reign;
He lives and reigns on high,
Who bought us with his blood,
Enthroned above the farthest sky,
Our Saviour God!
Not as the conqu'ror comes,
They, the true-hearted came;
Not with the roll of the stirring drums,
And the trumpet that sings of fame;
Not as the flying come,
In silence and in fear -
They shook the depths of the desert's gloom
With their hymns of lofty cheer.
Amidst the storm they sang,
And the stars heard, and the sea!
And the sounding aisles of the dim woods rang
To the anthem of the free.
The ocean eagle soar'd
From his nest by the white wave's foam,
And the rocking pines of the forest roar'd -
This was their welcome home!
What sought they thus afar?
Bright jewels of the mine?
The wealth of seas, the spoils of war?
They sought a faith's pure shrine!
Aye, call it holy ground,
The soil where first they trod!
They have left unstain'd what there they found,
Freedom to worship God!