The Cyber Hymnal ‎#12331

12331. Ah! Whither Should We Fly?

1 Ah! whither should we fly
In peril and distress,
While all the dogs of war are nigh,
The enemies of peace!
Almighty God of love,
On Thee our souls we cast
Hide Thou our hunted lives above,
And save the land at last.

2 A leopard watches o’er
Our cities night and day,
Prepared with unrelenting power
To spring upon the prey:
The alien armies wait,
Lured by the scent of blood,
As awful ministers of fate,
As thunderbolts of God.

3 Yet if our sin demands,
Its just reward of pain,
O let us fall into the hands
Of God, and not of man:
His tender mercies wound,
Remorseless as the grave;
But pity in Thy wrath is found,
Which only strikes to save.

4 In measure then reprove,
In love Thine own chastise,
But baffle, and far off remove,
Our threatening enemies;
Blast their devices, Lord,
Nor let their counsel stand,
Break Thou the spear, and wrest the sword
Out of the ruffian’s hand.

5 Thyself the men restrain
Who our destruction seek,
So shall they fiercely strive in vain
The secret bar to break:
Their bound they cannot pass,
If God assign their bound,
And Jesus, as a wall of brass,
Our troubled land surround.

6 But our defense is sure,
Whate’er event betide,
Beneath th’Almighty Shade secure
Thy faithful ones abide:
’Till all the tyranny,
Of earth and hell is o’er,
Jesus, Thy mighty name shall be
Our adamantine tower.

7 Tho’ famine, plague, and sword
Hang e’er our sinful land,
The means of swift prevention, Lord,
Are ever in Thine hand:
Or if the curse descend,
By sovereign Love subdued,
The curse shall bless, the ill shall end
In everlasting good.

Text Information

• First Line: Ah! whither should we fly
• Title: Ah! Whither Should We Fly?
• Author: Charles Wesley
• Meter: SMD
• Language: English
• Source: Hymns of Intercession for All Mankind (Bristol, England: E. Farley, 1758)
• Copyright: Public Domain
• Notes: Alternate tunes: LEOMINSTER by George W. Martin, OLIVET by John B. Dykes

Tune Information

• Name: GÖTTINGEN
• Composer: Anonymous (before 1890)
• Meter: SMD
• Key: g minor
• Source: The Primitive Methodist Hymnal by George Booth (London: Primitive Methodist Publishing House, 1889)
• Copyright: Public Domain