The Day is Near, the Judgment is at Hand

The Day is near, the judgment is at hand,
Awake, my soul, awake, and ready stand!
Where chiefs shall go with them that filled the throne,
Where rich and poor the same tribunal own:
And every thought and deed
Shall find its righteous meed.

There with the sheep the shepherd of the fold
Shall stand together; there the young and old;
Master and slave one doom shall undergo;
Widow and maiden one tribunal know.
Oh woe, oh woe, to them
Whom lawless lives condemn!

That Judgment-seat, impartial in decree,
Accepts no bribe, admits no subtilty:
No orator persuasion may exert,
No perjured witness wrong to right convert:
But all things, hid in night,
Shall then be dragged to light.

Let me not enter in the land of woe,
Let me not realms of outer darkness know!
Nor from the wedding-feast reject Thou me,
For my soiled vest of immortality;
Bound hand and foot, and cast
In anguish that shall last!

When Thou, the nations ranged on either side,
The righteous from the sinners shalt divide,
Then give me to be found amongst Thy sheep,
Then from the goats Thy trembling servant keep:
That I may hear the voice
That bids Thy Saints rejoice!

When righteous inquisition shall be made,
And the books opened, and the thrones arrayed,
My soul, what plea to shield thee canst thou know,
Who hast no fruit of righteousness to show,
No holy deeds to bring
To CHRIST the LORD and King?,

I hear the rich man’s wail and bitter cry,
Out of the torments of eternity;
I know, beholding that devouring flame,
My guilt and condemnation are the same;
And spare me, LORD, I say,
In the great judgment Day!

The WORD and SPIRIT, with the FATHER ONE,
One Light and emanation of One Sun,
The WORD by generation, we adore,
The SPIRIT by procession, evermore;
And with creation raise
The thankful hymn of praise.

Hymns of the Eastern Church, 1866