[THE AMERICAN PATRIOT'S PRAYER]
[1776]
Parent of all, omnipotent
In heav'n, and earth below,
Thro' all creation's bounds unspent,
Whose streams of goodness flow.
Teach me to know from whence I rose,
And unto what design'd;
No private aims let me propose,
Since link'd with human kind.
But chief to hear my country's voice,
May all my thoughts incline,
'Tis reason's law, 'tis virtue's choice,
'Tis nature's call and thine.
Me from fair freedom's sacred cause
Let nothing e'er divide;
Grandeur, nor gold, nor vain applause,
Nor friendship false misguide.
Let me not faction's partial hate
Pursue to this land's woe;
Nor grasp the thunder of the state
To wound a private foe.
If, for the right, to wish the wrong
My country shall combine,
Single to serve th' erron'ous throng,
Spite of themselves, be mine.
COLUMBIA
Columbia, Columbia, to glory arise,
The queen of the world, and the child of the skies;
Thy genius commands thee; with rapture behold,
While ages on ages thy splendor unfold,
Thy reign is the last, and the noblest of time,
Most fruitful thy soil, most inviting thy clime;
Let the crimes of the east ne'er encrimson thy name,
Be freedom, and science, and virtue thy fame.