506 Meribah. C.P.M.

(1114) Pleading for Acceptance.

When thou, my righteous Judge, shalt come,

To take thy ransomed people home,

Shall I among them stand?

Shall such a worthless worm as I,

Who sometimes am afraid to die,

Be found at thy right hand?

2 I love to meet thy people now,

Before thy feet with them to bow,

Though vilest of them all;

But--can I bear the piercing thought?--

What if my name should be left out,

When thou for them shalt call?

3 O Lord, prevent it by thy grace;

Be thou my only hiding-place,

In this th' accepted day;

Thy pardoning voice, oh, let me hear,

To still my unbelieving fear,

Nor let me fall, I pray.

4 And when the final trump shall sound,

Among thy saints let me be found,

To bow before thy face;

Then in triumphant strains I'll sing,

While heaven's resounding mansions ring

With praise of sovereign grace.

Mrs. Selina Shirley, 1772

507 Meribah. C.P.M.

(1115) Present and Future Realities.

Lo! on a narrow neck of land,

Between two boundless seas I stand,--

Yet how insensible!

A point of time--a moment's space--

Removes me to yon heavenly place,

Or shuts me up in hell!

2 O God! my inmost soul convert,

And deeply on my thoughtless heart

Eternal things impress;

Give me to feel their solemn weight,

And save me, ere it be too late!

Wake me to righteousness.

3 Be this my one great business here,

With holy trembling, holy fear,

To make my calling sure;

Thine utmost counsel to fulfill,

To suffer all thy righteous will,

And to the end endure!

4 Then Savior! then my soul receive,

Transported from the earth, to live

And reign with thee above;

Where faith is sweetly lost in sight,

And hope, in full supreme delight,

And everlasting love.

Charles Wesley, 1749.

508 Marlow. C.M.

(1103) Certainty of Judgment.

That awful day will surely come,

Th' appointed hour makes haste,

When I must stand before the Judge

And pass the solemn test.

2 Thou lovely Chief of all my joys,

Thou Sovereign of my heart,

How could I bear to hear thy voice

Pronounce the sound, "Depart!"

3 Oh, wretched state of deep despair,

To see my God remove,

And fix my dreadful station where

I must not taste his love!

4 Oh, tell me that my worthless name

Is graven on thy hands;

Show me some promise in thy book

Where my salvation stands.

Isaac Watts, 1707.

509 Judgment. C.M.

(1106) The Judgment Day.

And must I be to judgment brought,

And answer in that day,

For every vain and idle thought,

And every word I say?

2 Yes, every secret of my heart

Shall shortly be made known,

And I receive my just desert

For all that I have done.

3 How careful then I ought to live!

With what religious fear,

Who such a strict account must give

For my behavior here.

4 Thou awful Judge of quick and dead,

The watchful power bestow;

So shall I to my ways take heed,

To all I speak or do.

Charles Wesley.

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