1 Lo! he comes, arrayed in vengeance,
Riding down the heavenly road;
Floods of fury roll before him;
Who can meet an angry God?
Tremble, sinners;
Who can stand before his rod?
2 Lo! he comes in glory shining;
Saints, arise and meet your King!
“Glorious Captain of Salvation,
Welcome, welcome,” hear them sing!
Shouts of triumph
Make the heavens with echoes ring.
3 Now, despisers, look and wonder!
Hear the dreadful sound, “Depart!”
Rattling like a peal of thunder,
Through each guilty rebel’s heart!
Lost for ever!
Hope and sinners here must part.
4 [Still they hear the dreadful sentence;
Hell resounds the dreadful roar;
While their heart-strings rend with anguish,
Trembling on the burning shore;
Justice seals it;
Down they sink to rise no more.
5 How they shrink with horror, viewing
Hell’s deep caverns opening wide;
Guilty thoughts, like ghosts, pursuing,
Plunge them down the rolling tide!
Now consider,
Ye who scorn the Lamb that died.]
6 Hark! ten thousand harps resounding!
Formed in bright and grand array;
See the glorious armies rising,
While their Captain leads the way;
Heaven before them,
Opens an eternal day.
Source: A Selection of Hymns for Public Worship. In four parts (10th ed.) (Gadsby's Hymns) #495
Swain, Joseph, was born at Birmingham in 1761, and after being apprenticed to an engraver, removed to London. After a time he became a decided Christian, and being of an emotional poetic temperament, began to give expression to his new thoughts and feelings in hymns. In 1783 he was baptized by the Rev. Dr. Rippon, and in 1791 became minister of a Baptist congregation in East Street, Walworth. After a short but popular and very useful ministry, he died April 16, 1796 Swain published the following:—
(1) A Collection of Poems on Several Occasions, London, 1781; (2) Redemption, a Poem in five Books, London, 1789; (3) Experimental Essays on Divine Subjects, London, 1791; (4) Walworth Hymns, by J. Swain, Pastor of the Baptist Church Meeting… Go to person page >
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