JUDGMENT.

548

8, 7, 6 l

O’er the distant mountains breaking
Comes the redd’ning dawn of day;
Rise, my soul, from sleep awaking,
Rise, and sing, and watch, and pray;
|: ’Tis thy Savior, :|
On His bright returning way.
2. O Thou long-expected, weary
Waits my anxious soul for Thee;
Life is dark, and earth is dreary,
Where Thy light I do not see;
|: O my Savior, :|
When wilt Thou return to me?
3. Nearer is my soul’s salvation,
Spent the night, the day at hand;
Keep me in my lowly station,
Watching for Thee, till I stand,
|: O my Savior, :|
In Thy bright, Thy promised land.
4. With my lamp well trimmed and burning,
Swift to hear and loath to roam,
Watching for Thy glad returning
To restore me to my home.
|: Come, my Savior, :|
Thou hast promised: quickly come.

J. S. B. Monsell, 1863, a.

549

8, 9, 8, 6, 6, 4, 8, 8

Wake, awake, for night is flying,
The watchmen on the heights are crying:
Awake, Jerusalem, arise!
Midnight hears the welcome voices,
And at the thrilling cry rejoices;
O where are ye, ye virgins wise?
The Bridegroom comes, awake!
Your lamps with gladness take!
Hallelujah!
With bridal care Yourselves prepare
To meet the Bridegroom, who is near!
2. Zion hears the watchmen singing,
And all her heart with joy is springing,
She wakes, she rises from her gloom;
For her Lord comes down all glorious,
The strong in grace, in truth victorious,
Her Star is risen, her Light is come!
Now come, Thou Blessed One,
Lord Jesus, God’s own Son,
Hail! Hosanna!
The joyful call We answer all,
And follow to the nuptial hall.
3. Glory unto Thee be given,
By men and by the host of heaven,
With harp and cymbal’s clearest tone;
Of one pearl each shining portal,
Where we are with the choir immortal
Of angels round Thy dazzling throne.
Nor eye hath seen, nor ear
Hath yet attained to hear
Such great glory;
Therefore will we Eternally
Sing hymns of joy and praise to Thee.

Ph. Nicolai, 1599; Comp. tr.

550

L. M.

Let thoughtless thousands choose the road
That leads the soul away from God;
This happiness, dear Lord, be mine,
To live and die entirely Thine.
2. On Christ, by faith, I fain would live,
From Him my life, my all, receive,
To Him devote my fleeting hours,
Serve Him alone with all my powers.
3. Christ is my everlasting All;
To Him I look, on Him I call;
He will my every want supply
In time and through eternity.
4. Soon will the Lord, my Life, appear;
Soon shall I end my trials here,
Leave sin and sorrow, death and pain;
To live is Christ, to die is gain.
5. Soon will the saints in glory meet,
Soon walk through every golden street,
And sing on every blissful plain,—
To live is Christ, to die is gain.

J. Haskins, 1789.

551

L. M.

That day of wrath, that dreadful day,
When heaven and earth shall pass away!
What power shall be the sinner’s stay?
How shall he meet that dreadful day?
2. When, shriveling like a parchèd scroll,
The flaming heavens together roll;
When louder yet, and yet more dread,
Swells the high trump that wakes the dead:
3. Lord, on that day, that wrathful day,
When man to Judgment wakes from clay,
Be Thou the trembling sinner’s stay,
Though heaven and earth shall pass away.

Thomas of Celano, 13th cent.; Walter Scott, 1805, a.

552

8, 7, 8, 7, 8, 8, 7

The day is surely drawing near
When God’s Son, the Anointed,
Shall with great majesty appear
As Judge of all appointed.
All mirth and laughter then shall cease,
When flames on flames will still increase,
As the Apostle teacheth.
2. A trumpet loud shall then resound,
And all the earth be shaken;
Then all who in their graves are found
Shall from their sleep awaken;
But all that live shall in that hour
By the Almighty’s boundless power
Be changed at His commanding.
3. A book is opened then to all,
A record truly telling
What each hath done, both great and small,
When he on earth was dwelling;
And every heart be clearly seen,
And all be known as they have been,
In thoughts and words and actions.
4. Then woe to those who scorned the Lord
And sought but carnal pleasures,
Who here despised His precious Word
And loved their earthly treasures!
With shame and trembling they will stand
And at the Judge’s stern command
To Satan be delivered.
5. O Jesus, who my debt didst pay
And for my sin wast smitten,
Within the book of life, O may
My name be also written!
I will not doubt; I trust in Thee,
From Satan Thou hast made me free
And from all condemnation.
6. Therefore my Intercessor be,
And for Thy bloody merit
Declare my name from judgment free,
With all who life inherit;
That I may see Thee face to face
With all Thy saints in that blest place
Which Thou for us hast purchased.
7. O Jesus Christ, do not delay,
But hasten our salvation!
We often tremble on our way
In fear and tribulation.
Then hear us when we cry to Thee;
Come, mighty Judge, and make us free
From every evil! Amen.

B. Ringwaldt, † 1599; P. A. Peter, 1880, tr., a.

553

8, 7, 8, 7, 8, 8, 7

Great God, what do I see and hear?
The end of things created;
The Judge of mankind doth appear
On clouds of glory seated;
The trumpet sounds; the graves restore
The dead which they contained before:
Prepare, my soul, to meet Him.
2. The dead in Christ shall first arise
At the last trumpet’s sounding,
Caught up to meet Him in the skies;
With joy their Lord surrounding;
No gloomy fears their souls dismay;
His presence sheds eternal day
On those prepared to meet Him.
3. But sinners, filled with guilty fears,
Behold His wrath prevailing,
For they shall rise and find their tears
And sighs are unavailing;
The day of grace is past and gone;
Trembling they stand before the throne,
All unprepared to meet Him.
4. O Christ, who diedst and yet dost live,
To me impart Thy merit;
My pardon seal, my sins forgive,
And cleanse me by Thy Spirit.
Beneath Thy cross I view the day
When heaven and earth shall pass away,
And thus prepare to meet Thee.

W. B. Collyer, 1812.

554

S. M.

And will the Judge descend?
And must the dead arise
And not a single soul escape
His all-discerning eyes?
2. And from His righteous lips
Shall this dread sentence sound;
And, through the numerous guilty throng,
Spread black despair around?
3. “Depart from Me, accursed,
To everlasting flame,
For rebel angels first prepared,
Where mercy never came.”
4. How will my heart endure
The terrors of that day,
When earth and heaven before His face
Astonished shrink away?
5. But ere that trumpet shakes
The mansions of the dead,
Hark, from the Gospel’s cheering sound
What joyful tidings spread!
6. Ye sinners, seek His grace
Whose wrath ye cannot bear;
Fly to the shelter of His cross
And find salvation there.

Philip Doddridge, † 1751.

555

8s 3 l

Day of wrath, that day of mourning!
See fulfilled the Prophet’s warning,
Heaven and earth in ashes burning!
2. O what fear man’s bosom rendeth
When from heaven the Judge descendeth
On whose sentence all dependeth!
3. Wondrous sound the trumpet flingeth,
Through earth’s sepulchers it ringeth,
All before the throne it bringeth.
4. Death is struck and nature quaking;
All creation is awaking,
To its Judge an answer making.
5. Lo, the book, exactly worded,
Wherein all hath been recorded;
Thence shall judgment be awarded.
6. When the Judge His seat attaineth,
And each hidden deed arraigneth,
Nothing unavenged remaineth.
7. What shall I, frail man, be pleading?
Who for me be interceding,
When the just are mercy needing?
8. King of majesty tremendous,
Who dost free salvation send us,
Fount of pity, then befriend us!
9. Think, kind Jesus! my salvation
Caused Thy wondrous incarnation;
Leave me not to reprobation!
10. Faint and weary Thou hast sought me,
On the cross of suffering bought me;
Shall such grace in vain be brought me?
11. Righteous Judge of retribution,
Grant Thy gift of absolution
Ere that day’s dread execution.
12. Guilty, now I pour my moaning,
All my shame with anguish owning:
Spare, O God, Thy suppliant groaning!
13. Thou the women gav’st remission,
Heard’st the dying thief’s petition;
Hopeless else were my condition.
14. Worthless are my prayers and sighing,
Yet, good Lord, in grace complying,
Rescue me from fires undying!
15. With Thy favored sheep, O place me!
Nor amid the goats abase me;
But to Thy right hand upraise me.
16. While the wicked are confounded,
Doomed to flames of woe unbounded,
Call me, with Thy saints surrounded.
17. Bows my heart in meek submission,
Strewn with ashes of contrition.
Succor Thou my lost condition!
18. Day of sorrow, day of weeping,
When, in dust no longer sleeping,
Man awakes in Thy dread keeping!
19. To the rest Thou didst prepare me,
On Thy cross, O Christ, upbear me!
Spare, O God, in mercy spare me!

Thomas of Celano, c. 1250; W. J. Irons, tr., 1848, a.