A Wesley Hymn

Charles Wesley wrote a collection of 6 hymn texts in response to a 1750 earthquake that severely, but not catastrophically, shook London. Consistent with the common theology of his time, much of the lyrics see in the earthquake a summons to repentence and righteous living. The last of the six, however, is a setting of Psalm 46. Thanks to the folks at Duke Divinity School for releasing this material in light of the catastrophe in Haiti.

Let earth’s inmost center quake,

And shatter’d nature mourn,

Let the unwieldy mountains shake,

And fall by storms uptorn,

Fall with all their trembling load

Far into the ocean hurl’d,

Lo! We stand secure in God,

Amidst a ruin’d world.