How Shall We Answer Terror’s Cry?

How shall we an­swer ter­ror’s cry

The cun­ning blade

the flam­ing sky?

When mur­der­ous spite knocks down our door

And vio­lence breaks up­on our shore

O let us come and look to You

To know Your will—what shall we do?

When Sa­tan whis­pers

Hate your foe

Now take your ven­geance—draw the bow

Protect us from the tempt­er’s guile

The ly­ing voice

the ev­il smile.

O let us come in trust to You

To hear the word we know is true.

When ex­ecu­tion­ers hung You high

You turned Your pray­er up to the sky

And pled the Fa­ther to for­give

You asked that cru­el men might live.

O let us Your ex­am­ple take

And pray for sin­ners as we ache.

We pray that You their hearts will turn;

And light a ho­ly fire to burn

Their dross away

so they may be

Like gold re­fined

eter­nal­ly.

O let us pray that they become

Like us

with You for­ev­er one.