The Meth­od­ist Hymn Book Notes, by Stev­en­son, 1883, gives the ori­gin of this hymn. It came about as a re­sult of Wes­ley’s vi­sit to a Meth­od­ist so­ci­e­ty meet­ing in Leeds, Eng­land, March 14, 1744:

…in a cold up­per room, which was dense­ly packed, and crowds could not gain ad­miss­ion. He re­moved near­er the door that those with­out might hear, and drew the peo­ple towards him. In­stant­ly the raf­ters broke off short, close to the main beam, the floor sank, and more than one hun­dred people fell, amidst dust and ruins, in­to the room be­low. Sev­er­al were se­vere­ly in­jured, but none were killed. Charles Wes­ley him­self es­caped with slight in­ju­ries. “I lift­ed up my head,” he said, “and saw the peo­ple un­der me, heaps upon heaps. I cried out, ‘Fear not, the Lord is with us; our lives are all safe,’ and then gave out, ‘Praise God from Whom all bless­ings flow.’”

This hymn, in 12 stan­zas, ap­peared five years lat­er in Hymns and Sac­red Po­ems, head­ed, “Af­ter de­liv­er­ance from death by the fall of an house.” In 1780, stan­zas 6-9, 11 & 12 were given in the Wes­ley­an Hymn Book as one of the hymns “De­scrib­ing Judg­ment.”