See, how the nations rage together

See, how the nations rage together

Author: Richard Allen
Tune: NATIONS RAGE
Published in 4 hymnals

Representative Text

1. See how the nations rage together,
Seeking of each others' blood;
See how the Scriptures are fulfilling!
Repent, awake, and turn to God.
We see the fig tree slowly budding;
You who now in ruin lie,
Behold the leaves almost appearing,
Awake! take heed, your end is nigh.

2. We read of wars and great commotions
Calling forth that dreadful day;
O sinners, quit your sinful courses
And trifle not your time away.
Consider now the desolation
And the shortness of your time;
Behold, there's none but fiery ocean
For all who don't repent in time.

3. Ye ministers who wait on preaching,
Teachers and exhorters, too,
Can you not see the harvest waiting?
Arise, there is no rest for you.
Arise, dear kindred, let's be doing;
See the nations in distress;
The Lord of hosts forbids their ruin
Before the day of grace is past.

4. We see the land lie in confusion,
Dreadful to our mortal eyes,
But oh, dear sinners, that is nothing
To when the day of gloom draws nigh;
To see the Lord in clouds descending,
Saints and angels guard him round;
The saints from earth will rise to meet him,
But sinners speechless at his frown.

5. O sinners, something e’en more dreadful,
’Fore your judge you must appear,
To answer for your past transactions
And how you ran your courses here.
The book of conscience will be opened
With your character therein;
The sentence is, depart, ye cursèd,
And ev’ry saint will cry, “Amen.”

6. O Lord, forbid for this, our nation,
That should be their dreadful case;
Now sinners, turn and find salvation,
While he yet offers you free grace.
’Tis now you have a gospel morning;
Still the lamp holds out to burn,
And now you have sufficient warning:
O sinners! sinners! will you turn?

Source: Hymns and Devotions for Daily Worship #353

Author: Richard Allen

Richard Allen was born to a slave in Philadelphia, February 14, 1760. The family was later sold to Stokely Sturgis who lived near Dover, Delaware. Sturgis allowed the family to join the Methodist Society in Philadelphia. Allen taught himself to read and write and began to preach at age 22. Sturgis heard his first sermon "Thou Are Weighed in the Balance and Found Wanting" and came to believe that slavery was morally wrong, so he offered a plan for his slaves to work to buy their freedom. Allen purchased his freedom in 1780. In 1786, Allen moved back to Philadelphia, which was a center for freed blacks. He was the first ordained person of color in the Methodist Episcopal Church, which had begun dividing over the issue of slavery. He was a… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: See, how the nations rage together
Author: Richard Allen
Copyright: Public Domain

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Hymns and Devotions for Daily Worship #353

Include 3 pre-1979 instances
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