Intercession for the land

1018 C. M.
Deprecating the anger of God.

BEHOLD, O Lord! before thy throne
   Thy mourning people bend:
   ’Tis on thy sov’reign grace alone
   Our humble hopes depend.

2 Tremendous judgments from thy hand
   Thy dreadful power display;
   Yet mercy spares this guilty land,
   And yet we live to pray.

3 And why, great God, are we thus spared,
   Ungrateful as we are?
   O make thine awful warnings heard,
   While mercy cries,-Forbear!

4 O turn us, turn us, blessed Lord,
   By thine almighty grace;
   Then shall our hearts obey thy word,
   And ever seek thy face.

5 Hear thou our prayers, and grant us aid;
   Bid wars forever cease:
   Heal every breach that sin has made,
   And bless our land with peace.
                         Anne Steele
                         Methodist Episcopal hymnal (1870 edition)

<idle musing>
Hymnary.org has two different verses, substituted for verses 3 and 5, and modifies the wording rather significantly of the remaining verses.

3 How changed, alas, are truths divine
   For error, guilt, and shame!
   What impious numbers, bold in sin,
   Disgrace the Christian name!

5 Then, should insulting foes invade,
   We shall not yield to fear,
   Secure of all-sufficient aid
   When God in Christ is near.

They say it is in 188 hymnals.
</idle musing>