See, how the nations rage together

Representative Text

1 See! how the nations rage together,
Seeking of each others blood;
See how the scriptures are fulfilling!
Sinners awake and turn to God.

2 We see the fig-tree budding;
You that in open ruin lie,
Behold the leaves almost appearing,
Awak! behold your end is nigh.

3 We read of wars, and great commotions,
To come before that dreadful day;
Sinners quit your sinful courses,
And trifle not your time away.

4 Consider now the desolation,
And the shortness of your time;
Since there's none but a dark ocean,
For all that don't repent in time,

5 Ye ministers that wait on preaching,
Teachers and exhorters too,
Don't you see your harvest wasting,
Arise, there is no rest for you,

6 O think upon that strict commandment,
God has on his teachers laid:
The sinner's blood that dips unwarned,
Shall fall upon the teacher's head.

7 Arise dear brethren, let's be doing,
See the nations in distress;
The Lord of hosts forbid their ruin,
Before their day of grace is past.

8 To see the land lie in confusion,
Looks dreadful in our mortal eye;
But O dear sinners, that is nothing,
To when the day of doom draws nigh.

9 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.

10 To see the mountains a burning,
Mountains and hills must forward fly,
The moon in blood, the stars a falling,
And comets blazing thro' the sky.

11 O sinners! that's not all that's dreadful,
Before your Judge you must appear;
To answer for your past transactions,
How you ran your courses here.

12 The book of conscience will be open'd
And your character read therein;
The sentence is, depart ye cursed,
And every saint will cry, Amen.

13 O Lord, forbid that this our nation,
That this should be their dreadful case;
O sinners turn and find salvation,
While now he offers you free grace.

14 'Tis now you have a gospel morning,
And yet the lamp holds out to burn;
'Tis now you have sufficient warning,
O sinners! sinners! will you turn?

Source: A Collection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs: from various authors #LVIII

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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 >

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