The Cyber Hymnal ‎#14471

14471. Hell! 'Tis a Word of Dreadful Sound

1 Hell! ’tis a word of dreadful sound;
It chills the heart and shocks the ear;
It spreads a sickly damp around,
And makes the guilty quake with fear.

2 Far from the utmost verge of day,
Its frightful, gloomy region lies;
Fierce flames amidst the darkness play,
And thick sulfurous vapors rise.

3 Conscience, the never-dying worm,
With constant torture gnaws the heart,
And woe and wrath, in every form,
Inflame the wounds, increase the smart.

4 The wretches rave, o’erwhelmed with woe,
And bite their everlasting chains;
But with their rage their torments grow,
Resentment but augments their pains.

5 Sad world indeed! what heart can bear,
Hopeless, in all these pains to lie;
Racked with vexation, grief, despair,
And ever dying, never die!

6 "Lord, save a guilty soul from hell,
Who seeks Thy pardoning, cleansing blood;
O let me in Thy kingdom dwell,
To praise my Savior and my God."

Text Information

• First Line: Hell! ’tis a word of dreadful sound
• Title: Hell! 'Tis a Word of Dreadful Sound
• Author: Bartholomew Brown
• Meter: LM
• Language: English
• Source: A New Selection of Seven Hundred Evangelical Hymns by John Dobell (London: Williams & Smith, 1806)

Tune Information

• Name: ST. CROSS
• Composer: John Bacchus Dykes (1861)
• Meter: LM
• Key: d minor or modal
• Copyright: Public Domain