2 Vile wretches dare rehearse his name
With lips of falsehood and deceit;
A friend or brother they defame,
And soothe and flatter those they hate.
3 They watch to do their neighbours wrong;
Yet dare to seek their Maker's face;
They take his covenant on their tongue,
But break his laws, abuse his grace.
4 To heaven they lift their hands unclean,
Defil'd with lust, defil'd with blood;
By night they practise every sin,
By day their mouths draw near to God.
5 And while his judgments long delay,
They grow secure and sin the more;
They think he sleeps as well as they,
And put far off the dreadful hour.
6 O dreadful hour! when God draws near,
And sets their crimes before their eyes!
His wrath their guilty souls shall tear,
And no deliverer dare to rise.
Psalm 50:5. To a new Tune.
The last judgment.
1 The Lord the Sovereign sends his summons forth,
Calls the south nations, and awakes the north;
From east to west the sounding orders spread
Thro' distant worlds and regions of the dead:
No more shall atheists mock his long delay;
His vengeance sleeps no more: behold the day!
2 Behold the Judge descends; his guards are nigh;
Tempest and fire attend him down the sky:
Heaven, earth and hell draw near; let all things come
To hear his justice and the sinners doom:
But gather first my saints (the Judge commands)
Bring them, ye angels, from their distant lands.
3 Behold! my covenant stands for ever good,
Seal'd by the eternal sacrifice in blood,
And sign'd with all their names; the Greek, the Jew,
That paid the ancient worship or the new.
There's no distinction here: come spread their thrones,
And near me seat my favorites and my sons.
4 I their almighty Saviour and their God,
I am their Judge: ye heavens, proclaim abroad
My just eternal sentence, and declare
Those awful truths that sinners dread to hear:
Sinners in Zion, tremble and retire;
I doom the painted hypocrite to fire.