1 Awake! the watchman crieth,
On Zion's ramparts still!
The Lord His grace supplieth,
Repent, and heed His will.
Life's journey fast is nearing
The ever-lasting shore;
The hour of death appearing,
When time shall be no more.
2 Too late the sinners waken
Where morn hath ceased to dawn;
Where grace that was forsaken
Is evermore withdrawn;
Where's heard no praying sentence
God's mercy to implore;
For there is no repentance,
When time shall be no more.
3 O souls who spurn salvation!
See this eternity
Of darkness, desolation,
And constant agony.
The torments none can banish,
Nor aught can peace restore;
And hope itself shall vanish,
When time shall be no more!
4 Awake! the voice still soundeth;
'Tis now the accepted hour;
The grace of God aboundeth
To save from sin's dread power.
Make haste, implore Christ's favor,
Thy sins confess, and bow
Before Thy Lord and Saviour;
The accepted time is now.
Amen.
Source: The Hymnal and Order of Service #395
Franzén, Franz Michael, was born at Uleabôrg, Finland, in 1772, and educated at the University of Abo, where he became Librarian and Professor of Literary History. He was subsequently Minister at Kumla, Orebro, Sweden, and then of Santa Clara, in Stockholm. He was consecrated Bishop of Hernosand, in 1841, and died there in 1847. (See Supplement to Longfellow's Poets and Poetry of Europe.) Of his pieces one is in English common use. It begins "Jesum haf i ständigt minne," translated by Mrs. Charles in her Christian Life in Song, 1858, p. 250, as "Jesus in Thy memory keep" (Looking unto Jesus). Usually it begins with stanza ii., "Look to Jesus, till, reviving."
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)
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