Hymn
In Heaven we shall be purified, so as to be able to endure the splendours of the Deity.
Awake, sweet harp of Judah, wake,
Retune thy strings for Jesus’ sake;
We sing the Saviour of our race,
The Lamb, our shield, and hiding-place.
When God’s right arm is bared for war,
And thunders clothe his cloudy car,
Where, where, oh, where shall man retire,
To escape the horrors of his ire?
’Tis he, the Lamb, to him we fly,
While the dread tempest passes by;
God sees his Well-beloved’s face,
And spares us in our hiding-place.
Thus while we dwell in this low scene,
The Lamb is our unfailing screen;
To him, though guilty, still we run,
And God still spares us for his Son.
While yet we sojourn here below,
Pollutions still our hearts o’erflow;
Fallen, abject, mean, a sentenced race,
We deeply need a hiding-place.
Yet, courage—days and years will glide,
And we shall lay these clods aside,
Shall be baptized in Jordan’s flood,
And wash’d in Jesus’ cleansing blood.
Then pure, immortal, sinless, freed,
We through the Lamb shall be decreed;
Shall meet the Father face to face,
And need no more a hiding-place.1
1 The last stanza of this hymn was added extemporaneously, by the Author, one summer evening, when he was with a few friends on the Trent, and singing as he was used to do on such occasions.