The poetical works of John and Charles Wesley

Great God, who, ready to forgive,
In wrath rememberest mercy still,
By whose preserving love we live,
Though doom'd the second death to feel;
We magnify Thy patient grace,
And tremble, while we sing Thy praise.

Had not Thy mercy interposed,
When sleeping in our sins we lay,
The staggering earth had yawn'd, and closed
Its mouth on its devoted prey,
We now had with our city fell,
And quick descended into hell.

But oh! the Saviour of mankind
Hath gain'd for us a longer space,
Jesus His Father's heart inclined
To spare a vile rebellious race.
To snatch from Corah's fearful doom,
And save us from the wrath to come.

Then let us to our Saviour turn,
Answer His mercy's whole design,
With godly fear rejoice, and mourn,
And praises with confessions join,
Till all these lowering clouds remove,
And God appears the God of love.

HYMN II.

[God of glorious majesty]

God of glorious majesty,
Whose judgments are abroad,
Pierce, and turn our hearts to Thee,
With sacred horror awed;
All this drowsy land awake,
And by the thunder of Thy power
Shake, our inmost spirits shake,
And let us sleep no more.

Rising in Thy dreadful might
The wicked to rebuke,
Thou hast with unwonted fright
Our sleeping bodies shook;
Earth did to her centre quake,
Convulsive pangs her bowels tore;
Shake, our inmost spirits shake,
And let us sleep no more.

Ere the threaten'd ruin come,
A general terror dart,
Send the keen conviction home
To every thoughtless heart;

Shake us out of Satan's hands,
Burst open every prison door,
Rouse, and loose us from our bands,
And bid us sin no more.

Jesus, Lord, to whom we cry,
The true repentance give,
Give us at Thy feet to lie,
And tremble, and believe;
On the Rock of Ages place
Our souls, till all the wrath is o'er;
Ground, and stablish us in grace,
And bid us sin no more.

HYMN III.

[Tremendous Lord of earth, and skies]

Tremendous Lord of earth, and skies,
Most holy, high, and just,
We fall before Thy glorious eyes,
And hide us in the dust:
Thine anger's long suspended stroke
With deepest awe we feel,
And tremble on, so lately shook
Over the mouth of hell.

Appall'd, o'erwhelm'd with conscious fear,
Beneath Thy frown we mourn,
And shudder at the judgment near,
And dread its swift return.
So oft, and terribly reproved,
Our land is warn'd in vain,
For oh! the cause is unremoved,
The sin doth still remain.

The crowd, the poor unthinking crowd,
Refuse Thy hand to see,
They will not hear Thy loudest rod,
They will not turn to Thee.
As with judicial blindness struck,
They all Thy signs despise,
Harden their hearts yet more, and mock
The anger of the skies.

But blinder still, the rich and great
In wickedness excel,
And revel on the brink of fate,
And sport, and dance to hell.
Regardless of Thy smile or frown,
Their pleasures they require,
And sink with gay indifference down
To everlasting fire.

But O! Thou dreadful righteous Lord,
The praying remnant spare,
The men that tremble at Thy word,
And see the coming snare:
Our land if yet again Thou shake,
Or utterly break down,
A merciful distinction make,
And strongly save Thine own.

If earth its mouth must open wide,
To swallow up its prey,
Jesu, Thy faithful people hide
In that vindictive day:

Firm in the universal shock
We shall not then remove,
Safe in the clefts of Israel's Rock,
Our Lord's expiring love.

HYMN IV.

[God of awful majesty]

God of awful majesty,
Thy glorious name we praise;
Known are all Thy works to Thee
Of judgment, and of grace:
In Thine only breast it lies
To raise or sink, revive or slay:
Wilt Thou yet again chastise,
Or turn Thy wrath away?

Vengeance on Thy foes to take
Hast Thou in anger sworn?
Sworn again our earth to shake,
And from its base o'erturn?
Surely then to Abraham's seed
Thou shalt reveal the wrath to come,
Speak the punishment decreed,
And warn us of our doom.

But if so Thy will ordain
Its close design to hide,
Let us in Thy work remain,
And in Thy love abide;
Stand for all events prepared,
With patience arm'd and godly fear;
Stand for ever on our guard,
Till Thy great arm appear.

Blessed are the servants, Lord,
Whom Thou shalt watching find,
Hanging on Thy faithful word,
And to Thy will resign'd;
Safe amidst the darts of death,
Secure they rest in all alarms,
Sure their Lord hath spread beneath
His everlasting arms.

Should the earth this moment cleave,
And swallow up the just,
Jesus would their souls receive,
And guard their sleeping dust:
Though their dust the whirlwind sweep
To earth's profoundest centre driven,
Soon, emerging from the deep,
They rise, they mount to heaven!

HYMN V.

[From whence these dire portents around, ]

From whence these dire portents around,
That strike us with unwonted fear?
Why do these earthquakes rock the ground,
And threaten our destruction near?
Ye prophets smooth, the cause explain,
And lull us to repose again.

“Or water swelling for a vent,
Or air impatient to get free,
Or fire within earth's entrails pent;”
Yet all are order'd, Lord, by Thee;
The elements obey Thy nod,
And nature vindicates her God.

The pillars of the earth are Thine,
And Thou hast set the world thereon;
They at Thy threatening look incline,
The centre trembles at Thy frown,
The everlasting mountains bow,
And God is in the earthquake now!

Now, Lord, to shake our guilty land,
Thou dost in indignation rise;
We see, we see Thy lifted hand
Made bare a nation to chastise,
Whom neither plagues nor mercies move
To fear Thy wrath or court Thy love.

Therefore the earth beneath us reels,
And staggers like our drunken men,
The earth the mournful cause reveals,
And groans our burden to sustain;
Ordain'd our evils to deplore,
And fall with us to rise no more.

REVELATION XVI., XVII., &c., &c.

Occasioned by the Destruction of Lisbon.

PART I.

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 the' eternal throne,
And all the storms of vengeance rise
When God declares 'Tis done!
'Tis done! ten thousand voices join
To' 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 shatter'd 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 drown'd.
Jesus descends in dread array
To judge the scarlet whore:
And every isle is fled away,
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 heaven and earth are fled and gone,
O where shall I appear?

PART II.

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 Saviour reigns,
When nature is destroy'd,
And no created thing remains
Throughout the flaming void.
Sublime upon His azure throne,
He speaks the' almighty word:
His fiat is obey'd! '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!

University of Virginia Library

[PART I.]

HYMN I.

[Great God, who, ready to forgive]