Our Earth We Now Lament To See

Words: Charles Wesley, c. 1800, alt by Jim Ross

Music:
Melitta, John Bacchus Dykes, 1860 Dykes named the tune the island of Melita, which was the island the Apostle Paul reached after his ship went down (Acts 28:1); Today we know it as the isle of Malta

 1.  Our earth we now lament to see
     With floods of wickedness o'erflowed,
     With violence, wrong, and cruelty,
     One wide-extended field of blood,
     Where men like fiends each other tear,
     In all the hellish rage of war.

 2.  As listed on Abaddon's side,
     They mangle their own flesh, and slay:
     The demons dance and prance with glee
     At the torments of their prey;
     And myriads sink into their traps,
     And plunge into the awful graves.

 3.  O might the universal friend
     This havoc of his creatures see!
     Bid our unholy discord end;
     And make us reconciled in thee;
     Write kindness on our inward parts,
     And chase the murderer from our hearts!

 4.  Who now against each other rise,
     The nations of the earth, constrain
     To follow after peace, and prize
     The blessings of thy righteous reign,
     The joys of unity to prove,
     The paradise of perfect love!

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Page last modified on: 07/29/2004