78. THE DAY OF THE LORD.*
GOD with one piercing glance looks through
Creation's wide extended frame;
The past and future, in His view,
And days and ages, are the same.†
Sinners who dare provoke His face,
Who on His patience long presume,
And trifle out His day of grace,
Will find He has a day of doom.
As pangs the lab'ring woman feels,
Or as the thief in midnight-sleep, So comes that day for which the wheels Of time their ceaseless motion keep! Hark! from the sky, the trump proclaims Jesus, the Judge, approaching nigh! See the creation wrapt in flames,
First kindled by His vengeful eye!
When thus the mountains melt like wax;
When earth, and air, and sea shall burn;
When all the frame of nature breaks-
Poor sinner, whither wilt thou turn ?
The puny works which feeble men
Now boast, or covet, or admire;
Their pomp, and arts, and treasures, then
Shall perish in one common fire!
Lord, fix our hearts and hopes above!
Since all below to ruin tends;
Here, may we trust, obey, and love,
And there be found amongst Thy friends!
79. THE GREAT TRIBUNAL.*
JOHN, in vision, saw the day
When the Judge will hasten down;
Heaven and earth shall flee away
From the terror of His frown:
Dead and living, small and great,
Raised from the earth and sea,
At His bar shall hear their fate.
What will then become of me?
Can I bear His awful looks?
Shall I stand in judgment then,
When I see the open'd books,
Written by th' Almighty's pen!
If He to remembrance bring,
And expose to public view,
Every work and secret thing,
Ah, my soul, what canst thou do!
When the list shall be produced
Of the talents I enjoy'd;
Means and mercies, how abused!
Time and strength, how misemploy'd!
Conscience, then compell'd to read,
Must allow the charge is true;
Say, my soul, what canst thou plead?
In that hour, what wilt thou do?
But the book of life I see,
May my name be written there!
Then, from guilt and danger free,
Glad I'll meet Him in the air.
That's the book I hope to plead!
'Tis the Gospel open'd wide;
Lord, I am a wretch indeed!
I have sinn'd, but Thou hast died.*
Now my soul knows what to do;
Thus I shall with boldness stand,
Number'd with the faithful few,
Own'd and saved at Thy right hand.
If Thou help a feeble worm
To believe Thy promise now,
Justice will at last confirm
What Thy mercy wrought below.
80. THE OLD AND NEW CREATION.
THAT was a wonder-working word
Which could the vast creation raise!
Angels, attendant on their Lord,*
Admired the plan, and sung His praise.
From what a dark and shapeless mass
All nature sprang at His command!
'Let there be light!' and light there was,
And sun, and stars, and sea, and land.
With equal speed the earth and seas
Their mighty Maker's voice obey'd;
He spake, and straight the plants and trees, And birds, and beasts, and man were made.
But man, the lord and crown of all,
By sin his honour soon defaced;
His heart (how alter'd by the Fall!)
Is dark, deform'd, and void, and waste.
The new creation of the soul
Does now no less His power display+ Than when He form'd the mighty whole, And kindled darkness into day.
Though self-destroy'd, O Lord, we are, Yet let us feel what Thou canst do; Thy word the ruin can repair,
And all our hearts create anew.
81. THE BOOK OF CREATION.
THE book of Nature open lies,
With much instruction stored;
But till the Lord anoints our eyes,
We cannot read a word.
Philosophers have pored in vain,
And guess'd from age to age;
For Reason's eye could ne'er attain
To understand a page.
Though to each star they give a name,
Its size and motion teach,
The truths which all the stars proclaim
Their wisdom cannot reach.
With skill to measure earth and sea,
And weigh the subtle air,
They cannot, Lord, discover Thee,
Though present everywhere!
The knowledge of the saints excels
The wisdom of the schools;
To them His secrets God reveals,
Though men account them fools.
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