Scripture Verse

Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. Isaiah 26:20

Introduction

portrait
John Newton (1725–1807)

Words: John New­ton, Ol­ney Hymns (Lon­don: W. Ol­iv­er, 1779), Book 2, num­ber 67. The hid­ing place. Feb­ru­ary 10, 1779.

Music: Be­ne­ven­to, ar­ranged from Sam­uel Webbe, Sr., 1792 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tunes:

portrait
Samuel Webbe (1740–1816)

Lyrics

See the gloomy ga­ther­ing cloud
Hanging o’er a sin­ful land!
Sure the Lord pro­claims aloud,
Times of trou­ble are at hand:
Happy they, who love His name!
They shall al­ways find Him near;
Though the earth were wrapped in flame,
They have no just cause for fear.

Hark! His voice in ac­cents mild,
O, how com­fort­ing and sweet!
Speaks to ev­ery hum­ble child,
Pointing out a sure re­treat!
Come, and in My cham­bers hide,
To My saints of old well known;
There you safe­ly may abide,
Till the storm be ov­er­blown.

You have on­ly to re­pose
On My wis­dom, love, and care;
Where My wrath con­sumes my foes,
Mercy shall My child­ren spare:
While they per­ish in the flood,
You that bear My ho­ly mark,
Sprinkled with aton­ing blood,
Shall be safe with­in the ark.

Sinners, see the ark pre­pared!
Haste to en­ter while there’s room;
Though the Lord His arm has bared,
Mercy still re­tards your doom:
Seek Him while there yet is hope,
Ere the day of grace be past;
Lest in wrath He give you up,
And this call should prove your last.

illustration
The Deluge, Frontispiece to Gustave Doré’s
Illustrated Bi­ble, 1866