See! how the nations rage together 

based on
Ye ministers that are call’d to preaching

Among the hymns attributed to Richard Allen (1760–1831), founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the earliest appeared in a pamphlet titled A Narrative of the Proceedings of the Black People During the Late Awful Calamity in Philadelphia in the Year 1793 (Philadelphia: William W. Woodward, 1794 | Fig 1). The publication describes the work of Richard Allen and some of his associates, including Absalom Jones and William Gray, during a yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia in 1793. For seventy days, they were among some of the most dedicated and selfless servants, operating under the guidance of the mayor, Matthew Clarkson, and organizing laborers from among the black community, at great risk to themselves and often without compensation, or even worse—subjected to undue, racially charged criticism.

In addition, the pamphlet contained “An address to those who keep slaves and approve the practice,” a note of encouragement “To the people of colour,” a note of gratitude toward their white allies, “A short address to the friends of him who hath no helper,” and a hymn, “Ye ministers, that are call’d to preaching,” given in five stanzas of four lines, without music.

The first three stanzas of the hymn are addressed to preachers and teachers, admonishing them to stay active in winning and reforming souls. The first stanza recalls John 4:35 (“Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest”), and the second appeals to Hebrews 13:7 (“Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account,” ESV) or possibly to Acts 20:28 (“Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood,” ESV).

The last two stanzas are addressed to sinners as a word of warning before impending judgment. The first two lines of the fourth stanza seem to draw from Matthew 24:6 (“And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet,” ESV; also Mark 13:7). Finally, the account described in the last stanza is likely in reference to Revelation 20:12 (“Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done,” ESV).

II. Expanded and Revised Text

Seven years later, Allen included a much longer version of the hymn in the revised edition of A Collection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs (1801 | Fig. 2), this time beginning “See! how the nations rage together” and spanning fourteen stanzas.

Fig. 2. A Collection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs (Philadelphia: T.L. Plowman, 1801).

This new hymn spanned fourteen stanzas of four lines, In this version, Allen began by addressing sinners. Allen’s original stanza 4 became the new stanza 3. Allen’s original call to ministers was shifted down to stanzas 5–7 and became a temporary diversion, only for the attention to shift back to sinners in stanza 8. The other stanza from 1794 found its place at stanza 11, this time expanded into a new stanza 12. The author briefly shifted the plea toward God for two lines in stanza 13 before turning once again back to his main audience.

III. Additional Analysis

The fourteen-stanza version of the hymn opens with words reminiscent of Psalm 2:1 (“Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?”). The second stanza references the fig tree as a sign of the end of days. This can be found in some prophecies and warnings, except many of them refer to the withering of the tree, not its flourishing. For example, Isaiah 34:4 reads—

All the host of heaven shall rot away, and the skies roll up like a scroll. All their host shall fall, as leaves fall from the vine, like leaves falling from the fig tree.

Or Jeremiah 8:13—

When I would gather them, declares the Lord, there are no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree; even the leaves are withered, and what I gave them has passed away from them.

See also Jeremiah 5:17, Hosea 2:12, Joel 1:7–12, Amos 4:9, Matthew 21:19 (or Mark 11:12–14), Luke 13:6–9, or Revelation 6:13. Instead, the hymn writer seems to be referring to the prophecy of Matthew 24:32–33, which says—

From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates.

Micah 4:1–5 also speaks of a day of peace when “they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree,” but this would seem to apply post-judgment, as in the way the promise of Revelation 21 (“He will dwell with them, and they will be his people,” etc.) follows the judgment of Revelation 20.

The “dark ocean” in stanza 4 is probably the lake of fire mentioned in Revelation 20:14–15, and “dark” would be best understood in the sense of “grim” or “hopeless.” Stanza 9 speaks of “the Lord in clouds descending,” which comes from Revelation 19 and Matthew 26:64, and “the saints from earth will rise to meet him,” which comes from 1 Thessalonians 4:16 (“For the Lord himself will descend from heaven . . . and the dead in Christ will rise first,” ESV; see also Isa. 16:19, Mk. 12:24–27).

Stanza 10 includes dramatic images of burning mountains (Deut. 32:22, Micah 1:4, Joel 2:2–5), a bloody moon (Joel 2:31, Acts 2:20, Rev. 6:12), falling stars and blazing comets (Mt. 24:29, Mk. 13:25, Rev. 6:13). The “free grace” mentioned in stanza 13 is supported by Ephesians 2:8–9 and Romans 5:15. To end the hymn, the writer held out the gospel lamp (2 Cor. 4:4, 2 Tim. 1:10).

This hymn would be suitable for any service in which the Second Coming is the main focal point, or the Apocalypse. Inconsistencies of meter make this hymn difficult to use as-is, but another hymn in Allen’s collection with a similar theme, “Behold, the awful trumpet sounds,” which has a tighter construction, would be readily singable.

IV. Complicating Factors

The trouble with assigning the hymn squarely to Allen arises with the intervening publication of the hymn twice between 1794 and 1801. For example, the year after Allen included five stanzas in his yellow fever narrative, the full fourteen-stanza version was printed in A Short Collection of Hymns, 2nd ed. (Lansingburgh, NY: Silvester Tiffany for A.M. Ellison, 1795 | Fig. 3).

Fig. 3. A Short Collection of Hymns, 2nd ed. (Lansingburgh, NY: Silvester Tiffany for A.M. Ellison, 1795).

This version is nearly identical to what Allen printed in 1801, except the first line of the second stanza, adding “tender,” and two lines of stanza ten, which are arguably better here. See also the minor difference at 13.3, given as “seek” rather than Allen’s “find.” This printing raises questions of whether this long-form version of the hymn could predate the 1794 short form, in such a way that Allen had supplied excerpts for his pamphlet to fill the last page, or if this was a later expansion of the other.

The full hymn had also appeared in Divine Hymns or Spiritual Songs, 10th ed. (Norwich, CT: John Trumbull, 1800 | Fig. 4), originally compiled by Joshua Smith and expanded by others (the 9th ed. was edited by William Northup). The heading and the text in this copy are identical to the earlier 1795 print.

Fig. 4. Divine Hymns or Spiritual Songs, 10th ed. (Norwich, CT: John Trumbull, 1800).

These two last copies raise important questions about Allen’s authorship. None of the figures above carry a proper attribution. The 1795 and 1800 printings do not automatically negate Allen’s authorship, as Allen was known to have been an itinerant preacher and had printed at least one other hymn as a broadside. On the other hand, it is possible Allen was familiar with one or both of these publications and drew from them, because his 1801 collections share ten hymns in common with the 1795 book and twelve in common with the 1800 book—but that doesn’t explain Allen’s use of five stanzas in 1794 with no known antecedent.

One scholar of Allen’s hymns, J. Roland Braithwaite, was comfortable assigning the hymn to Allen and said this hymn “was apparently a favorite subject of his sermons,”[1] without further citation or explanation. Jon Michael Spencer (1992) also assigned the longer hymn to Allen, on the basis of it being related to the short version from 1794. Thus, Allen’s claim to authorship of either the short or long form relies heavily on his being the first to print five stanzas in 1794, and if others copied it from Allen, they must have copied it from a broadsheet, which no longer survives.

by CHRIS FENNER
for Hymnology Archive
12 January 2020

Footnotes:

1. J. Roland Braithwaite, “Originality in the 1801 hymnals of Richard Allen,” New Perspectives on Music: Essays in Honor of Eileen Southern (Warren, MI: Harmonie Park, 1992), p. 78; see also pp. 86–87.

Related Resources:

Jon Michael Spencer, “The African Methodist Episcopal Church,” Black Hymnody: A Hymnological History of the African-American Church (Knoxville: University of Tennessee, 1992), pp. 3–24.