Sinner, art thou still secure?
Wilt thou still refuse to pray?
Can thy heart or hands endure
In the Lord’s avenging day?
See his mighty arm is bar’d
Awful terrors clothe his brow;
For his judgment stand prepar’d;
Thou must either break or bow.
At his presence nature shakes,
Earth affrighted hastes to flee;
Solid mountains melt, like wax;
What will then become of thee?
Who his coming may abide?
You that glory in your shame,
Will you find a place to hide,
When the world is wrapp’d in flame?
Then the great, the rich, the wise,
Trembling, guilty, all condemned,
Must behold the wrathful eyes
Of the Judge they once blasphem’d.
Where are now their haughty looks?
Oh! Their horror and despair
When they see the open’d books
And the dreadful sentence hear.
Lord prepare us by thy grace;
Soon must we resign our breath
And our souls be called to pass
Through the iron gate of death
Let us now our day improve,
Listen to the gospel voice,
Seek the things that are above,
Scorn the world’s pretended joys.
O! When flesh and heart shall fail,
Let thy love our spirits cheer,
Strengthen’d thus we shall prevail
Over Satan, sin and fear.
Trusting in thy precious Name
May we thus our journey end;
Then our foes shall lose their aim
And the Judge will be our friend.
–from The Evangelical Primer, ninth edition, 1817 by Joseph Emerson
The Misadventures of Captain Headknowledge 