See, The Destruction Is Begun

Representative Text

1 See, the destruction is begun,
And heaps of ruin spread the ground;
With hasty strides it marches on,
And scatters consternation round.

2 Sinners in Zion take th’alarm,
The hypocrites astonished cry,
"Who with devouring flames can dwell?
Who in eternal burnings lie?"

3 God’s gracious voice the saint revives,
How sweet the heav’nly accents sound!
"Dwell thou on high, My child," He says,
"Where rocks shall guard thee all around."

4 "There shall My hand thy wants supply,
Thy water and thy bread are sure;
There shall My visits make thee glad,
While these alarming scenes endure."

5 "Then, led in joyous triumph forth,
Thine eyes the distant land shall view,
Shall see thy king in beauty dressed,
And share His royal honors, too."

6 My soul the oracle receives,
And feels its energy to cheer;
A promised Heav’n, a present God,
Forbids my grief, forbids my fear.



Source: The Cyber Hymnal #8983

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: See, the destruction is begun
Title: See, The Destruction Is Begun
Author: Philip Doddridge
Meter: 8.8.8.8
Source: Published posthumously in Hymns Founded on Various Texts in the Holy Scriptures, by Job Orton (J. Eddowes and J. Cotton, 1755)
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Tune

DEUS TUORUM MILITUM (Grenoble)

DEUS TUORUM MILITUM (sometimes called GRENOBLE) was published in France in the 1753 Grenoble Antiphoner as a setting for the text "Deus tuorum militum" (“The God of Your Soldiers”). One of the finest French diocesan tunes from the eighteenth century, it represents a departure in Roman Catholic h…

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The Cyber Hymnal #8983
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The Cyber Hymnal #8983

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