WRATH.
O Lord rebuke me not in thy wrath: neither chasten me in Thy hot displeasure.—Psalm xxxviii. 1.
He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding: but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly.—Proverbs, xiv. 29.
O Lord, in wrath remember mercy.—Habakkuk, iii. 2.
For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand.—Revelation, vi. 17.
O throw away Thy rod,
O throw away Thy wrath!
My gracious Saviour and my God,
O take the gentle path!
Thou seest my heart’s desire
Still unto Thee is bent;
Still does my longing soul aspire
To an entire consent.
Not even a word or look
Do I approve or own,
But by the model of Thy book,
Thy sacred book alone.
Although I fail, I weep;
Although I halt in pace,
Yet still with trembling steps I creep
Unto the throne of grace.
O then, let wrath remove!
For love will do the deed:
Love will the conquest gain; with love
E’en stony hearts will bleed.
O throw away Thy rod!
What though man frailties hath!
Thou my Saviour and my God,
O throw away Thy wrath!
Herbert.
Awake!
Thou who shalt wake when the creation sleeps;
When, like a taper, all these suns expire;
When Time, like him of Gaza in his wrath,
Plucking the pillars that support the world,
In Nature’s ample ruins lies intombed;
And midnight, universal midnight reigns!
Young.
Dreadful attempt!
Just reeking from self-slaughter, in a rage
To push into the presence of our Judge!
As if we challenged Him to do His worst,
And mattered not His wrath.
Blair.
O day of wrath! that dreadful day,
When earth in dust shall pass away!
What dread shall strike the sinner dumb,
When the Almighty Judge shall come,
Every bidden sin to sum!
When the wondrous trumpet’s tone,
Ringing through each cavern lone,
Calls the dead before the Throne—
When cruel death himself shall die,
And, freed from dark mortality,
The creature to his Judge reply:
What shall then that creature say?
What power shall be the sinner’s stay,
When the just are in dismay?
Lord of all power and majesty,
Pure fountain of all piety,
Save us when we cry to Thee!
O thou whose vengeance waits on sin,
Cleanse our souls from guilt within,
Ere the day of wrath begin!
With suppliant heart and bended knee,
Low stooping in the dust to Thee,
Lord! save us in extremity!
That day of wrath, that dreadful day,
When man to judgment wakes from clay—
Be thou the trembling sinner’s stay,
When heaven and earth shall pass away.
From the Latin, R. P.
The day of wrath, that dreadful day,
Shall all the world in ashes lay,
The last loud trumpet’s mighty sound
Shall wake the nations under ground.
Thou Great Creator of mankind,
Let guilty souls now favour find;
My God, my Saviour, and my Friend,
Do not forsake me in the end.
Roscommon.