Every island, sea, and mountain,
Heaven and earth shall flee away; All who hate him must, confounded, Hear the trump proclaim the day;
Come to judgment,
Come to judgment, come away.
Every eye shall now behold Him,
Robed in dreadful majesty ;
Those who set at nought and sold Him,
Pierced, and nailed Him to the tree,
Shall the true Messiah see.
The dear tokens of His passion
Still His dazzling body bears,
Cause of endless adoration
To His ransomed worshippers;
With what rapture, Gaze we on those glorious scars!
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.
[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.
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!]
Great God! what do I see and hear!
The end of things created!
The Judge of mankind doth
appear
On clouds of glory seated!
Low at His Cross I view the day
When heaven and earth shall pass away,
And thus prepare to meet Him.
Day of Wrath! O Day of mourning!
See! once more the Cross returning—
Heaven and earth in ashes burning!
[Oh! what fear man's bosom rendeth, When from Heaven the Judge descendeth, On Whose sentence all dependeth !]
Wondrous sound the trumpet flingeth,
Through earth's sepulchres it ringeth,
All before the throne it bringeth!
[Death is struck, and nature quakingAll creation is awaking,
To its Judge an answer making!]
Lo! the book exactly worded,
Wherein all hath been recorded!-
Thence shall judgment be awarded.
When the Judge His seat attaineth,
And each hidden deed arraigneth,
Nothing unavenged remaineth.
[What shall I, frail man, be pleading?
Who for me be interceding,
When the just are mercy needing?]
King of Majesty tremendous,
Who dost free salvation send us,
Fount of Pity! then befriend us.
Think, kind Jesu-my salvation
Caused Thy wondrous Incarnation-
Leave me not to reprobation!
Faint and weary, Thou hast sought me.
On the Cross of suffering bought me ;-
Shall such grace be vainly brought me?
Righteous Judge of Retribution,
Grant Thy gift of absolution,
Ere that reckoning-day's conclusion!
[Guilty, now, I pour my moaning, All my shame with anguish owning Spare, O God, Thy suppliant groaning!
Thou the sinful woman savedst-
Thou the dying thief forgavedst-
And to me a hope vouchsafedst.
Worthless are my prayers and sighing,
Yet, good Lord, in grace complying,
Rescue me from fires undying!
With Thy favoured sheep O place me!
Nor among the goats abase me,
But to Thy right hand upraise me.]
While the wicked are confounded,
Doomed to flames of woe unbounded,
Call me! with Thy saints surrounded.
Low I kneel, with heart submission-
See, like ashes, my contrition-
Help me in my last condition!
Ah! that Day of tears and mourning!
From the dust of earth returning
Man for Judgment must prepare him;
Spare! O God, in mercy spare him!
Lord, all-pitying Jesu blest,
Grant me Thine eternal rest.
Earth is past away and gone,
All her glories every one,
All her pomp is broken down;
God is reigning-God alone!
All her high ones lowly lie,
All her mirth hath passed by,
All her merry-hearted sigh;
God is reigning-God on high!
No more sorrow, no more night;
Perfect joy, and purest light;
With His spotless saints and bright,
God is reigning in the height!
Blessing, praise, and glory bring,
Offer every holy thing;
Everlasting praises sing;
God is reigning, God our King!
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?
When shrivelling like a parched scroll,
The flaming heavens together roll,
When louder yet, and yet more dread,
Swells the high trump that wakes the dead.
Oh on that day, that awful day,
When man to judgment wakes from clay,
Be Thou, O Christ, the sinner's stay,
When heaven and earth shall pass away.
The Lord will come! the earth shall quake,
The hills their fixed seat forsake;
And, withering, from the vault of night,
The stars withdraw their feeble light.
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