I

When God for judgment sets His throne,

And man to wrath awakes;

When rending rocks from heights are cast,

And earth's foundation shakes;

What then, my soul, shall be thy plea,

When God to Judgment summons thee?

II

When, as a garment waxen old,

The heavens are rolled away;

And as a vesture changed for that

Which shall endure for aye,—

How clad, my soul, wilt thou appear,

When God to Judgment draweth near?

III

When loud and shrill the trumpet's blare,

Shall wake the earth and sea;

And from the hidden depths shall rise

The bondman and the free,—

Where, then, my soul, wilt thou abide,

When God at Judgment shall preside?

IV

When from the Record men shall hear

The Judge of all recite;

And every hidden work behold,

Made manifest in light,—

Wilt thou, my soul, the Judgment bear,

That finds the sinner everywhere?

V

O Christ, Thou Judge, on that dread day,

When sinners shun thy face,

Join not my soul with wicked men,

But free me by Thy grace;

And to my favoured soul be given,

Thy welcome to the bliss of heaven.