1 When wild confusion wrecks the air
And tempests rend the skies,
Whilst blended ruin, clouds and fire
In harsh disorder rise;
2 Safe in my Savior’s love I’ll stand
And strike a tuneful song,
My harp all trembling in my hand,
And all inspired my tongue.
3 I’ll shout aloud, Ye thunders, roll,
And shake the sullen sky;
Your sounding voices, pole to pole
In angry murmurs cry.
4 The earth, she totters on her base,
And clouds the heav’n deform;
Blow, all ye winds from every place,
And rush the final storm.
5 Come quickly, blessèd hope, appear,
Bid swift thy chariot fly,
Let angels tell thy coming near,
And snatch me to the sky.
6 Around thy wheels in gladdest throng
I’d bear a joyful part;
All hallelujah on my tongue,
All rapture in my heart.
Source: The Cyber Hymnal #14441
Byles, Mather, D.D., born 1706, educated at Harvard, 1725, died 1788. He was an eminent Congregational Minister of Boston, and, for his time and place, an elegant scholar. He corresponded with, and was well thought of by the English wits and literati. His Toryism brought him into trouble at the Revolution, causing him, in his own words, to be “guarded, reguarded, and disregarded."
His Sermons wore published at various dates from 1729 to 1771, and his Poems in 1727, 1736, and 1744. Of the Appendix to Tate and Brady, published by S. Kneeland in 1760, he edited hymns 77 to 100 inclusive, of which hymns 78, 79, and 80 seem to be his own. Part of No. 78, beginning with st. vii., "When wild confusion wrecks the air," is a Judgment hymn, and ha… Go to person page >
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