STOP, POOR SINNER, STOP AND THINK

John New­ton,

Stop, poor sinner! stop and think
Before you farther go!
Will you sport upon the brink
Of everlasting woe?
Once again I charge you, stop!
For, unless you warning take,
Ere you are aware, you drop
Into the burning lake!

Say, have you an arm like God,
That you His will oppose?
Fear you not that iron rod
With which He breaks His foes?
Can you stand in that dread day,
When He judgment shall proclaim,
And the earth shall melt away
Like wax before the flame?

Pale faced death will quickly come
To drag you to His bar;
Then to hear your awful doom
Will fill you with despair:
All your sins will round you crowd,
Sins of a blood-crimson dye;
Each for vengeance crying loud,
And what can you reply?

Though your heart be made of steel,
Your forehead lined with brass,
God at length will make you feel,
He will not let you pass:
Sinners then in vain will call,
Though they now despise His grace,
“Rocks and mountains on us fall,
And hide us from His face!”

But as yet there is a hope
You may His mercy know;
Though His arm is lifted up
He still forbears the blow:
?Twas for sinners Jesus died,
Sinners He invites to come;
None who come shall be denied,
He says, “There still is room.”

Charles Wes­ley,

Terrible thought! shall I alone—
Who may be saved—Shall I
Of all, alas! whom I have known,
Through sin for ever die?

While all my old companions dear,
With whom I once did live,
Joyful at God’s right hand appear,
A blessing to receive.

Shall I, amidst a ghastly band,
Dragged to the judgment seat,
Far on the left with horror stand,
My fearful doom to meet?

Ah, no! I still may turn and live,
For still His wrath delays;
He now vouchsafes a kind reprieve,
And offers me His grace.

I will accept His offers now,
From every sin depart,
Perform my oft-repeated vow
And render Him my heart.

I will improve what I receive,
The grace through Jesus giv’n;
Sure, if with God on earth I live,
To live with Him in Heav’n.

Jo­hann Rist,

Awake, thou careless world, awake!
That final judgment day will surely come;
What Heav’n hath fixed no time can shake,
Time never more shall sweep away thy doom.
Know what the Lord Himself hath spoken
Shall come at last and not delay:
Though Heav’n and earth shall pass away,
His steadfast Word can ne’er be broken.

Awake! thou careless world, awake!
For none can tell how soon our God may please
That suddenly that day should break,
No human wisdom fathoms depths like these:
O flee earth’s base delights and pride,
For as the bird is in the snare,
Or ever of its foe aware,
So comes that day so long denied.

Yet He in love delayeth long
That awful day, and grants the sinner space
To turn away from sin and wrong,
And mourning seek in time His love and grace.
He holdeth back that best of days
Until the righteous shall approve
Their faith and hope, their constant love;
So gentle us-ward are His ways!

And those found faithful then shall see
That glorious morning dawn in love and joy,
Their Savior comes to set them free,
Their Judge Himself shall all their bonds destroy;
He the true Joshua then shall bring
His people with a mighty hand
Into their promised fatherland,
Where songs of victory they shall sing.

Arise, and let us night and day
Watch for our Lord, and study o’er His Word,
And in the Spirit ever pray,
That we be ready when His call is heard;
Arise, and let us haste to meet
The Bridegroom standing at the door,
That with the angels evermore
We too may worship at His feet.

The Lord, the Sovereign, sends His summons forth,
Calls the south nations and awakes the north;
From east to west the sounding orders spread,
Through distant worlds and regions of the dead:
No more shall atheists mock His long delay;
His vengeance sleeps no more: behold the day!

Behold, the Judge descends, His guards are nigh;
Tempest and fire attend Him down the sky:
Heav’n, earth, and hell, draw near; let all things come
To hear His justice, and the sinner’s doom:
“But gather first My saints,” the Judge commands,
“Bring them, ye angels, from their distant lands.

“Behold, My cov’nant stands for ever good,
Sealed by th’ eternal Sacrifice in blood,
And signed 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 fav’rites and My sons.

“I, their Almighty Savior and their God,
I am their Judge: ye heav’ns, 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.

“Not for the want of goats or bullocks slain
Do I condemn thee; bulls and goats are vain
Without the flames of love; in vain the store
Of brutal off’rings that were Mine before;
Mine are the tamer beasts and savage breed,
Flocks, herds, and fields and forests where they feed.

“If I were hungry, would I ask thee food?
When did I thirst, or drink thy bullocks’ blood?
Can I be flattered with thy cringing bows,
Thy solemn chatt’rings and fantastic vows?
Are My eyes charmed thy vestments to behold,
Glaring in gems, and gay in woven gold?

“Unthinking wretch! how couldst thou hope to please
A God, a Spirit, with such toys as these,
While, with My grace and statutes on thy tongue,
Thou lov’st deceit, and dost thy brother wrong?
In vain to pious forms thy zeal pretends,
Thieves and adulterers are thy chosen friends.

“Silent I waited with long-suff’ring love,
But didst thou hope that I should ne’er reprove?
And cherish such an impious thought within,
That God, the Righteous, would indulge thy sin?
Behold My terrors now: My thunders roll,
And thy own crimes affright thy guilty soul.”

Sinners, awake betimes; ye fools, be wise;
Awake before this dreadful morning rise;
Change your vain thoughts, your crooked works amend,
Fly to the Savior, make the Judge your friend
Lest, like a lion, His last vengeance tear
Your trembling souls, and no deliv’rer near.

I.Watts