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24

HYMN XI.

The Cry of a Reprobate.

Go, wretched soul, to meet thy doom;
Thou neither canst escape, nor fly:
The day, the fatal day is come;
And thou with all thy hopes must die.
The dire occasion of my fall
Is present to my closest view;
Shorn of my strength, I give up all,
And bid the world of grace adieu!
The Philistines at last have found
The way to' afflict their baffled foe;
By my own sin betray'd and bound,
A sheep I to the slaughter go.
I saw my death with stony eye,
While I the way of life could find;
But would not then from ruin fly,
And now my harden'd heart is blind.
I cannot from destruction turn,
Nor wish it might from me depart;
Down the swift stream of nature borne,
I sin with all my wretchless heart.
My greedy soul knows no remorse,
(While conscience sear'd no longer cries,)
Impetuous as the headlong horse
Rushes into the fight, and dies.
25

I hasten where the deepest hell
Is moved to meet me from beneath,
Where damn'd apostate spirits yell,
And gnaw their tongues, and gnash their teeth.
Tophet is for the king prepared;
But I must have the hottest place;
I claim it as my just reward
For such an endless waste of grace.
Dives, and I, and Judas there,
With galling chains of darkness bound,
Shall howl in blasphemous despair,
And fiends return the doleful sound.
A real, fiery, sulphurous hell
Shall prey upon our outward frame;
But sorer pangs the soul shall feel,
Tormented in a fiercer flame.
The dreadful sin-consuming fire
God shall into our spirits breathe,
A brimstone stream of vengeful ire,
And slay them with a living death.
Conscience, the worm that never dies,
Shall gnaw and tear us day and night,
For ever banish'd from the skies,
And cast out of the Saviour's sight.
Back to the presence of the Lord
O'er the vast gulf we cannot pass;
We cannot, cannot be restored
To see the glories of His face.
26

Horror of horrors! hell of hell!
This makes the cup of wrath run o'er;
Far from my Lord with fiends to dwell,
And never, never see Him more.
O death, this is thy sting! O grave
Of souls, this is thy victory!
The Saviour can no longer save,
A gulf is fix'd 'twixt Him and me.
No ray of light, no gleam of hope
The dismal regions can allow;
'Tis here I must my eyes lift up,
The pains of hell surround me now.
Hopeless, my damn'd estate I mourn;
God's wrath is dropt into my soul;
His fiery wrath in me shall burn
Long as eternal ages roll.
Hear, sinners, hear an human fiend,
And shudder at my horrid tale;
Consign'd to woes that never end,
Before my time I weep and wail.
As Dives would his brethren warn,
Lest they should share his dreadful doom,
Sinners, (I cry,) to Jesus turn,
Nor to my place of torment come.
Hear an incarnate devil preach,
Nor throw, like me, your souls away,
While heavenly bliss is in your reach
And God prolongs your gracious day.
27

Whom I reject, do you receive;
The Saviour of mankind embrace:
He tasted death for all; believe,
Believe, and ye are saved by grace.
Ye are, and I was once, forgiven;
Jesus's doom did mine repeal;
I might, with you, have come to heaven,
Saved by the grace from which I fell.
A ransom for my soul was paid;
For mine, and every soul of man,
The Lamb a full atonement made,
The Lamb, for me and Judas slain.
Before I at His bar appear,
Thence into outer darkness thrust,
The Judge of all the earth I clear,
Jesus, the merciful and just!
By my own hands, not His, I fall;
The hellish doctrine I disprove:
Sinners, His grace is free for all;
Though I am damn'd, yet God is love!
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