Ah! whither will ye fly

Verse 1
Ah, whither will ye fly,
Ye sheep of Jesus fold?
The death approaching nigh
The slaughtering wolf behold!
He comes, besmear’d with Stephen’s blood,
To martyr all the saints of God!

Verse 2
Now, now he ready is
To spring upon his prey,
The helpless flock to seize
And rend, and tear, and slay!
Lord, what shall stop his headlong rage,
And save thy wasted heritage?

Verse 3
A word, a look from Thee
Can make the savage tame,
Disarm his cruelty,
And change him to a lamb,
Can strike opposers to the ground,
And all thy church’s foes confound.

Verse 4
Thou them in their distress
Didst at Damascus save,
That we, when men oppress,
Full confidence may have,
Rest in the fold, and safe from harm
Depend on thine unshortned Arm.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘As he journeyed, he came near Damascus.’—[Acts 9,] v. 3.” This hymn appears in the 1764 manuscript “MS Acts.” This manuscript is part of the collection of the Methodist Archive and Research Centre in The John Rylands Library, The University of Manchester (accession number MA 1977/555, Charles Wesley Notebooks Box 1). Accessed through the website of The Center for Studies in the Wesleyan Tradition, Duke Divinity School. Published in The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Collected and Arranged by G. Osborn, Vol. 12 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1871), page 233.
Publishing: Public Domain