James Montgomery

For a Sermon before a Society for the Recovery of Persons apparently Drowned.

When Israel, press'd by Pharaoh, stood,

Affrighted, on the Red Sea shore,

At Thy rebuke, O Lord, the flood

Retired, -- the ransom'd tribes pass'd o'er.

When Jonah was cast out to die,

And all Thy storms went o'er his head,

Thou, from the depths didst hear his cry,

And raise him thence as from the dead.

When Peter, walking on the wave,

Felt his faith fail, his footsteps sink,

Thy blessed Son was there to save,

And snatch'd him from destruction's brink.

Within Thy courts, great God, behold

A little grateful band appear;

O'er these the whelming waters roll'd,

but help was nigh, and they are here.

Here, in Thy courts, their vows to pay,

And praise Thee with their living breath;

Where had their spirits been this day,

Hadst Thou not rescued them from death?

Redeem'd from the devouring tomb,

Restored to life, and joy, and bliss;

O save them from a deeper gloom,

And to a happier world than this.