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WHEN RISING FROM THE BED OF DEATH

Scripture Verse

Abide in Him; that, when He shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. 1 John 2:28

Introduction

portrait
Joseph Addison
(1672–1719)
Wikimedia Commons

Words: Jo­seph Ad­di­son, in The Spec­ta­tor, Lon­don, is­sue 512, Oc­to­ber 18, 1712, num­ber 513. The hymn was ap­pend­ed to a let­ter pur­port­ing to have been writ­ten by an …ex­cel­lent man in Ho­ly Or­ders whom I have men­tioned more than once as the one of that so­ci­ety who as­sist me in my spe­cu­la­tions. The con­clud­ing words are It is this Ser­ies of Thoughts that I have en­dea­voured to ex­press in the fol­low­ing Hymn, which I have com­posed dur­ing this my Sick­ness (quot­ed in Ju­li­an, page 17).

Music: Third Mode Me­lo­dy Tho­mas Tal­lis (1505–1585) (🔊 ).

portrait
Thomas Tallis (1505–1585)

Lyrics

When ris­ing from the bed of death,
O’erwhelmed with guilt and fear,
I see my mak­er face to face,
O how shall I ap­pear?

If yet, while par­don may be found,
And mer­cy may be sought,
My heart with in­ward hor­ror shrinks,
And trem­bles at the thought;

When Thou, O Lord, shalt stand dis­closed
In ma­jes­ty sev­ere,
And sit in judg­ment on my soul,
O how shall I ap­pear?

But Thou hast told the trou­bled mind
Who does her sins la­ment,
The time­ly tri­bute of her tears
Shall end­less woe pre­vent.

Then see the sor­row of my heart,
Ere yet it be too late;
And hear my Sav­ior’s dy­ing groans,
To give those sor­rows weight.

For nev­er shall my soul des­pair
Her par­don to pro­cure,
Who knows Thine on­ly Son has died
To make her par­don sure.