He summons the heavens above, and the earth, that He may judge His people.
Psalm 50:4
Words: Isaac Watts, The Psalms of David 1719, alt.
Music: Yorkshire John Wainright, 1750 (🔊 pdf nwc).
If you know where to get a good picture of Wainright (head & shoulders, at least 200×300 pixels),
The God of glory
Sends His summons forth,
To nations south
And then awakes the north;
From east to west
The sovereign 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,
the Judge commands,
Draw near; let all things come
To hear My justice,
And the sinner’s doom:
But gather first
My saints,
“Bring them, ye angels,
From their distant lands.
“Behold, My covenant
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; join all your voices,
And raise your heads,
Ye saints, for Heav’n rejoices.
Here,
saith the Lord,
Ye angels, spread their thrones,
And near me seat
My favorites and My sons:
Come, My redeemed,
Possess the joys prepared
Ere time began;
’Tis your divine reward.
When Christ returns,
Wake every cheerful passion;
And shout, ye saints,
He comes for your salvation.
“I am the Savior,
I th’Almighty God,
I am their Judge:
Ye heav’ns, proclaim abroad
My just eternal
Sentence, and declare
Those awful truths
That sinners dread to hear:
When God appears,
All nature shall adore Him;
While sinners tremble,
Saints rejoice before Him.
Stand forth, thou bold
Blasphemer, and profane,
Now feel My wrath,
Nor call My threat’nings vain;
Thou hypocrite,
Once dressed in saints’ attire,
I doom the painted
Hypocrite to fire.
Judgment proceeds;
Hell trembles; Heav’n rejoices;
Lift up your heads,
Ye saints, with cheerful voices.
Not for the want
Of goats or bullocks slain
Do I condemn
Thee; bulls and goats are vain
Without the flame
Of love; in vain the store
Of brutal offerings
That were Mine before.
Earth is the Lord’s,
All nature shall adore Him;
While sinners, tremble,
Saints rejoice before Him;
If I were hungry,
Would I ask thee food?
When did I thirst,
Or drink thy bullocks’ blood?
Mine are the tamer
Beasts and savage breed,
Flocks, herds, and fields
And forests where they feed.
All is the Lord’s,
He rules the wide creation;
Gives sinners vengeance,
And the saints salvation.
Can I be flattered
With thy cringing bows,
Thy solemn chatterings
And fantastic vows?
Are My eyes charmed
Thy vestments to behold,
Glaring in gems,
And gay in woven gold?
God is the judge
Of hearts, no fair disguises
Can screen the guilty
When His vengeance rises.
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?
Judgment proceeds;
Hell trembles; Heav’n rejoices;
Lift up your heads,
Ye saints, with cheerful voices.
In vain to pious
Forms thy zeal pretends;
Thieves and adulterers
Are thy chosen friends.
While the false flatterer
At My altar waits,
His hardened soul
Divine instruction hates.
God is the Judge
Of hearts, no fair disguises
Can screen the guilty
When His vengeance rises.
Silent I waited
With long-suffering love,
But didst thou hope
That I should ne’er reprove?
And cherish such
An impious thought within,
That the All-Holy
Would indulge thy sin?
See, God appears;
All nature joins t’adore Him:
Judgment proceeds,
And sinners fall before Him.
Behold My terrors
Now: My thunders roll,
And thy own crimes
Affright thy guilty soul;
Now like a lion
Shall My vengeance tear
Thy bleeding heart,
And no deliverer near.
Judgment concludes;
Hell trembles; Heav’n rejoices:
Lift up your heads,
Ye saints, with cheerful voices.
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;
Then join the saints,
Wake every cheerful passion;
When Christ returns,
He comes for your salvation.