Woe to the Men on Earth Who Dwell

Woe to the men on earth who dwell

Nor dread the Al­migh­ty’s frown;

When God doth all His wrath re­veal

And show­er His judg­ments down!

Sinners

ex­pect those hea­vi­est show­ers;

To meet your God pre­pare!

For

lo! the se­venth an­gel pours

His phi­al in the air.

A voice out of the tem­ple cries

And from th’eter­nal throne

And all the storms of ven­geance rise

When God de­clares ’Tis done!

’Tis done! ten thou­sand voic­es join

T’applaud His right­eous ire;

And thun­ders roll

and lightn­ings shine

That set the world on fire.

The migh­ty shock seems now be­gun

Beyond ex­am­ple great

And lo! the world’s foun­da­tions groan

As at their in­stant fate;

Jehovah shakes the shat­tered ball

Sign of the ge­ne­ral doom

The ci­ties of the na­tions fall

And Ba­bel’s hour is come.

Lo! from their roots the mount­ains leap;

The mount­ains are not found;

Transported far in­to the deep

And in the ocean drowned.

Jesus des­cends in dread ar­ray

To judge the scar­let whore:

And ev­ery isle is fled away

Our na­tion is no more!

[originally

And Bri­tain is no more]

She sinks be­neath her am­bi­ent flood

And nev­er more shall rise;

The earth is gone

on which we stood

The old cre­ation dies!

Who then shall live

and face the throne

And face the Judge sev­ere?

When Heav’n and earth are fled and gone

O where shall I ap­pear?

Now

on­ly now

against that hour

We may a place pro­vide:

Beyond the grave

be­yond the pow­er

Of hell

our spir­its hide:

Firm in the all-de­stroy­ing shock

May view the fi­nal scene;

For

lo! the ev­er­last­ing Rock

Is cleft to take us in.

By faith we find the place above

The Rock that rent in twain;

Beneath the shade of dy­ing love

And in the clefts re­main.

Jesus

to Thy dear wounds we flee

We sink in­to Thy side;

Assured that all who trust in Thee

Shall ev­er­more abide.

Then let the thun­der­ing trum­pet sound;

The lat­est lightn­ing glare;

The mount­ains melt; the so­lid ground

Dissolve as li­quid air;

The huge ce­les­ti­al bodies roll

Amidst that ge­ne­ral fire

And shri­vel as a parch­ment scroll

And all in smoke ex­pire!

Yet still the Lord

the Sav­ior reigns

When na­ture is de­stroyed

And no cre­at­ed thing re­mains

Throughout the flam­ing void.

Sublime upon His az­ure throne

He speaks the al­migh­ty word:

His fiat is ob­eyed! ’tis done;

And para­dise re­stored.

So be it! let this sys­tem end

This ru­in­ous earth and skies;

The New Je­ru­sa­lem des­cend

The new cre­ation rise.

Thy pow­er om­ni­po­tent as­sume;

Thy bright­est ma­jes­ty!

And when Thou dost in glo­ry come

My Lord

re­mem­ber me!