Thoughtless they act th’ old Serpent’s part;
  What tempting things they be! 
  Lord, how they twine about our heart,
  And draw it off from Thee!

  Our hasty wills rush blindly on
  Where rising passion rolls,
  And thus we make our fetters strong
  To bind our slavish souls.

  Dear Sovereign, break these fetters off. 
  And set our spirits free;
  God in Himself is bliss enough;
  For we have all in Thee.

  THE DAY OF JUDGMENT

  When the fierce north-wind with his airy forces,
  Bears up the Baltic to a foaming fury;
  And the red lightning with a storm of hail comes
  Rushing amain down;

  How the poor sailors stand amazed and tremble,
  While the hoarse thunder, like a bloody trumpet,
  Roars a loud onset to the gaping waters,
  Quick to devour them.

  Such shall the noise be, and the wild disorder
  (If things eternal may be like these earthly),
  Such the dire terror when the great Archangel
  Shakes the creation;

  Tears the strong pillars of the vault of heaven,
  Breaks up old marble, the repose of princes. 
  See the graves open, and the bones arising,
  Flames all around them!

  Hark, the shrill outcries of the guilty wretches! 
  Lively bright horror and amazing anguish
  Stare through their eyelids, while the living worm lies
  Gnawing within them.

  Thoughts like old vultures, prey upon their heart-strings,
  And the smart twinges, when the eye beholds the
  Lofty Judge frowning, and a flood of vengeance
  Rolling afore Him. 
  Hopeless immortals! how they scream and shiver,
  While devils push them to the pit wide-yawning
  Hideous and gloomy, to receive them headlong
  Down to the centre!

  Stop here, my fancy:  (all away, ye horrid
  Doleful ideas!) come, arise to Jesus,
  How He sits God-like! and the saints around Him
  Throned, yet adoring!

  O may I sit there when He comes triumphant,
  Dooming the nations! then arise to glory,
  While our hosannas all along the passage
  Shout the Redeemer.

  O GOD, OUR HELP IN AGES PAST

  O God, our help in ages past,
  Our hope for years for to come,
  Our shelter from the stormy blast,
  And our eternal home: 

  Under the shadow of Thy throne,
  Thy saints have dwelt secure;
  Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
  And our defense is sure.

  Before the hills in order stood,
  Or earth received her frame,
  From everlasting Thou art God,
  To endless years the same.

  A thousand ages in Thy sight
  Are like an evening gone;
  Short as the watch that ends the night
  Before the rising sun.

  Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
  Bears all its sons away;
  They fly forgotten, as a dream
  Dies at the opening day.