Verse 1
That awful day will surely come,
Th’ appointed hour makes haste,
When I must stand before my Judge,
And pass the solemn test.
Verse 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?”
Verse 3
[The thunder of that dismal word,
Would so torment my ear,
’Twould tear my soul asunder, Lord,
With most tormenting fear.]
Verse 4
[What, to be banish’d from my life,
And yet forbid to die!
To linger in eternal pain,
Yet death for ever fly!]
Verse 5
O wretched state of deep despair,
To see my God remove,
And fix my doleful station where
I must not taste his Love.
Verse 6
Jesus, I throw my arms around,
And hang upon thy breast;
Without a gracious smile from thee
My spirit cannot rest.
Verse 7
O tell me that my worthless name
Is graven on thy hands;
Shew me some promise in thy book
Where my salvation stands!
Verse 8
[Give me one kind assuring word,
To sink my fears again,
And cheerfully my soul shall wait
Her threescore years and ten.]
Isaac Watts, “That Awful Day Will Surely Come”