Scripture Verse

That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 2 Peter 3:12

Introduction

Words: Ano­ny­mous, in A Col­lect­ion of Hymns, for the Use of the Peo­ple Called Bi­ble Chris­tians, se­cond edi­tion (Sheb­bear, De­von: James Thorne, 1863), num­ber 562.

Music: Dal­ston Aar­on Will­iams, 1760 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pic­ture of Will­iams (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

The hour will quick­ly come,
When earth shall hear its doom;
At His com­mand the flames shall rise;
Ten thou­sand thun­ders roar,
And rage from shore to shore;
While all dis­solve, both earth and skies.

See, see the Judge ap­pear!
His last great man­date hear,
To judg­ment, all ye na­tions come!
The na­tions all obey,
And, trem­bling, haste away
To meet their ev­er­last­ing doom.

Now all the hu­man race
Appear be­fore the face
Of so­ver­eign ma­jes­ty di­vine:
Ye guil­ty and im­pure,
How will ye then en­dure
Your dread­ful des­ti­ny to hear?

Great day, that shall des­cry
To ev­ery won­der­ing eye
The sec­ret deeds of day and night!
The sac­red vol­ume large
Its re­cords shall dis­charge,
And bring our ev­ery thought to light.

The bold blas­phem­er there
Will trem­ble and des­pair;
No way to shun im­pend­ing ire;
Where shall the guil­ty hide,
Or the fierce day abide,
When He ap­pears re­vealed in fire?

With pangs un­felt before,
Too late they now im­plore
A re­fuge from tre­men­dous wrath;
With what stu­pendous awe
They hear the fie­ry law
Consign them to eter­nal death!