Awake thou that sleepest! Arise
From those who in trespass are dead.
Lift up to the heavens thine eyes
From whence the light living is shed.
Arise, for the light has appeared,
The light of which prophets have dreamed,
Mid the darkness oppressive and weird
That had almost omnipotent seemed.
The light of the Father unseen,
The heart of invisible God,
The life-giving glorious sheen
By the Son of His love shed abroad.
Then arise! Let the darkness and dole
Be dispelled from that cold heart of thine;
Let the glory break bright on thy soul
By the might of the Spirit divine.
Thou hast nothing to do with the dead,
With the world, with its dissolute trend,
Its plans and its politics red
With the blood of thy Saviour and Friend.
It has been by man’s lawlessness built,
A God-hating path it has trod,
Old and grey it has grown in its guilt,
And it waits the just judgment of God.
It has cast out the Just One, the Christ,
To whom belong kingdom and throne,
It cannot to truth be enticed,
Best therefore to leave it alone.
From the wrath and the curse that shall fall
On its sin and its mutinous pride,
The penitent soul let us call
To the Saviour in whom we confide.
This is all we can do—’tis enough,
Let us do it with heavenly might;
We are sure to get oft a rebuff,
But with good let us evil requite.
We are not here the world to amend,
We could not do this if we would;
Let us then not endeavour to blend
Its horrible evil with good.
To witness for Him are we here,
Whom this world on a gibbet impaled,
Tho’ sure we have reason to fear
In witness we’ve fearfully failed.
In the light of His love is our lot,
Thro’ the grace of our life-giving head:
This world—there is death in the pot,
Let its dead therefore, bury its dead.