The Cyber Hymnal ‎#8189

8189. When In Dark And Dreadful Gloom

1 When in dark and dreadful gloom,
Clouds on clouds portentous spread,
Black as if the day of doom
Hung o’er nature’s shrinking head:
When the lightning breaks from high,
God is coming—God is nigh!

2 Then we hear His chariot wheels,
As the mighty thunder rolls;
Nature, startled nature reels,
From the center to the poles;
Then the ocean, earth and sky,
Tremble as He passes by.

3 Darkness, wild with horror, forms
His mysterious hiding place;
Should He from His ark of storms,
Rend the veil and show His face,
At the judgment of His eye,
All the universe would die!

4 God of vengeance! from above,
While Thine awful bolts are hurled,
O remember Thou art love!
Spare! O spare a guilty world!
Stay Thy flaming wrath awhile,
Let the bow of promise smile!

5 When the last dread day appears
Bursting wide from pole to pole,
When amid the shivering spheres,
Twice ten thousand thunders roll;
When the dream of time shall end,
May I find the Judge my friend!

Text Information

• First Line: When in dark and dreadful gloom
• Title: When In Dark And Dreadful Gloom
• Author: James Montgomery,1771-1854
• Meter: 77.77.77
• Language: English
• Copyright: Public Domain

Tune Information

• Name: GETHSEMANE
• Composer: Frederick Arthur Gore Ouseley (1869)
• Meter: 77.77.77
• Key: e minor
• Copyright: Public Domain