Wesley Corpus

When most displeas'd thou shak'st the rod, And absolute thy threat'nings sound, A kind reserve is understood, A secret clause for mercy found. Yet forty days, thy justice cries, And Nineveh shall be o'erthrown, Except (thy whispering grace replies) They turn, before the wrath comes down. Page 7 How often hath thy goodness tried A people hardened from thy fear, And turn'd th' impending plague aside, And spar'd our land from year to year? Ev'n now thou dost the stroke suspend, Thy pitiful reluctance shew, And watchmen thro' our Israel send, To warn us of the falling blow. What canst thou more for sinners do? And if we farther still rebel, If still our sinful lusts pursue, We court the hottest flames of hell. The men of Nineveh shall rise Our judges in that vengeful day, Unless we quit the paths of vice, And cast our loathsome sins away. Less dreadful will the punishment Of Sodom and Gomorrah prove, Than ours, if scorning to repent, We still despise thy bleeding love. Hymn IV. Ezekiel ix. Part I. Great God, whose wrath in antient times Oreflow'd thy sinful people's crimes; Whose angry voice again I hear, Which thunder'd in Ezekiel's ear; Stir up thy mercy with thy power, And arm us for the fiery hour. Page 8 If now the dreadful charge is given To the fierce ministers of heaven, If ready now the aliens stand, Their slaughter weapons in their hand, To deal the chastisements of God, And make our land a field of blood: Come with them, O thou man in white, Who dost in gracious acts delight, Before the dire destroyers come, In love prevent the general doom; Nor make thy wrath on sinners known, 'Till mercy hath secur'd thine own. Our sad devoted land go thro', Distinguishing the mournful few, Whose spirits vex'd with pious pain, Lament our sins of deepest stain, And groan the public guilt to bear, And agonize in secret prayer. The men, who daily sigh and grieve, The Lots that in our Sodom live, A difference in their favour make, Into thy kind protection take, And claim the pensive souls for thine, And mark them with the crimson sign.