Hymn - STORMS! that thunder through the sky

STORMS! that thunder through the sky,
Answer with your whirlwind cry;
     As ye ride in fury past,
     Have ye not a bolt to blast
All the pride of tyranny?

                 II.
LIGHTNINGS! with your lurid breath;
Fell TORNADOES! wing’d with death;
     Will ye not avenge the wrong
     Which the slave hath suffer’d long,
Where in chains he perisheth?

                 III.
SWORD and FAMINE! PLAGUE and FIRE!
Wherefore will ye not conspire
     To redeem the long oppress’d;
     And in wrath make manifest
That ye work your God’s desire?

                 IV.
EARTH, O EARTH! How sleep thy jaws!
FLOODS of ruin wherefore pause?
     Servants of the Last and First,
     Why doth wrath delay to burst!
And avenge his broken laws?

                 V.
Hush! vain heart, the impious tho’t;
Not at mortal will is wrought
     Man’s redemption by the might
     Of remorseless plagues, which smite
Tyrants, merciless and haught.

                 VI.
Wait the righteous will of God;
He shall break the gyve and rod;
     And the oppressor’s dark offence
     He alone may recompence—
And redeem the lowly-trod.