Our Nation Seemed To Ruin Doomed

Our nation seemed to ruin doomed

Author: Philip Doddridge
Tune: BURFORD (Purcell)
Published in 1 hymnal

Printable scores: PDF, Noteworthy Composer
Audio files: MIDI

Representative Text

1 Our nation seemed to ruin doomed,
Just like a burning brand;
Till snatched from fierce surrounding flames
By God’s indulgent hand.

2 "Once more," He says, "I will suppress
The wrath that sin would wake,
Once more My patience shall attend,
And call this nation back."

3 But who this clemency reveres?
Or feels this melting grace?
Who stirs his languid spirit up
To seek Thine awful face?

4 On days like these we pour our cries,
And at Thy feet we mourn;
Then rise to tempt Thy wrath again,
And to our sins return.

5 Our nation far from God remains,
Far, as in distant years;
And that small remnant which is left,
A dying aspect wears.

6 Now chastened, rescued thus in vain,
Thy righteous Hand severe
Into the flames might hurl us back,
And quite consume us there.

7 So by the light our burning gives
Might neighboring nations read.
How terrible Thy judgments are,
And learn our guilt to dread.

8 Yet, ’midst the cry of sins like ours,
Incline Thy gracious ear;
And Thine own children’s feeble cry
With soft compassion hear.

9 O by Thy sacred Spirit’s breath
Ignite a holy flame;
Refine the land that Thou has spared,
And magnify Thy name.

Source: The Cyber Hymnal #12577

Author: Philip Doddridge

Philip Doddridge (b. London, England, 1702; d. Lisbon, Portugal, 1751) belonged to the Non-conformist Church (not associated with the Church of England). Its members were frequently the focus of discrimination. Offered an education by a rich patron to prepare him for ordination in the Church of England, Doddridge chose instead to remain in the Non-conformist Church. For twenty years he pastored a poor parish in Northampton, where he opened an academy for training Non-conformist ministers and taught most of the subjects himself. Doddridge suffered from tuberculosis, and when Lady Huntington, one of his patrons, offered to finance a trip to Lisbon for his health, he is reputed to have said, "I can as well go to heaven from Lisbon as from Nort… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Our nation seemed to ruin doomed
Title: Our Nation Seemed To Ruin Doomed
Author: Philip Doddridge
Meter: 8.6.8.6
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Media

The Cyber Hymnal #12577
  • PDF (PDF)
  • Noteworthy Composer Score (NWC)

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The Cyber Hymnal #12577

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