Canon for Apocreos

Ode I

That fearful Day, that Day of speechless dread,
When Thou shalt come to judge the quick and dead—
I shudder to foresee,
O God! what then shall be!

When Thou shalt come, angelic legions round,
With thousand thousands, and with trumpet sound,
Christ, grant me in the air
With saints to meet Thee there!

Weep, O my soul, ere that great hour and day,
When God shall shine in manifest array,
Thy sin, that thou may’st be
In that strict judgment free!

The terror!—hell-fire fierce and unsufficed:
The bitter worm: the gnashing teeth:—O Christ,
Forgive, remit, protect;
And set me with the elect!

That I may hear the blessed voice that calls
The righteous to the joy of heavenly halls.
And, King of Heaven, may reach
The realm that passeth speech!

Enter Thou not in judgment with each deed,
Nor each intent and thought in strictness read:
Forgive, and save me then,
O Thou That lovest men!

Thee, One in Three blest Persons! Lord o’er all!
Essence of essence, Power of power. we call!
Save us, O Father, Son,
And Spirit, ever one!

Ode III

God comes;—and who shall stand before His fear?
Who bide His Presence, when He draweth near?
My soul, my soul, prepare
To kneel before Him there!

Haste,—weep,—be reconciled to Him before
The fearful judgment knocketh at the door
Where, in the Judge's eyes,
All bare and naked lies.

Have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, I cry,
When with Thine angels Thou appear’st on high:
And each shall doom inherit,
According to his merit.

How can I bear Thy fearful anger, Lord?
I, that have so often transgressed Thy word?
But put my sins away,
And spare me in that day!

O miserable soul, return, lament,
Ere earthly converse end, and life be spent:
Ere, time for sorrow o’er,
The Bridegroom close the door!

Yea, I have sinned, as no man sinned beside:
With more than human guilt my soul is dyed:
But spare, and save me here,
Before that day appear!

Three Persons in One Essence uncreate,
On Whom, both Three and One, our praises wait,
Give everlasting light,
To them that sing Thy might!

Ode IV

The Day is near, the Judgment is at hand,
Awake, my soul, awake, and ready stand!
Where chiefs shall go with them that filled the throne,
Where rich and poor the same tribunal own;
And every thought and deed
Shall find its righteous meed.

There with the sheep the shepherd of the fold
Shall stand together; there the young and old;
Master and slave one doom shall undergo;
Widow and maiden one tribunal know.
Oh woe, oh woe, to them
Whom lawless lives condemn!

That Judgment-seat, impartial in decree,
Accepts no bribe, admits no subtilty:
No orator persuasion may exert,
No perjured witness wrong to right convert:
But all things, hid in night,
Shall then be dragged to light.

Let me not enter in the land of woe,
Let me not realms of outer darkness know!
Nor from the wedding-feast reject Thou me,
For my soiled vest of immortality;
Bound hand and foot, and cast
In anguish that shall last!

When Thou, the nations ranged on either side,
The righteous from the sinners shalt divide,
Then give me to be found amongst Thy sheep,
Then from the goats Thy trembling servant keep:
That I may hear the voice
That bids Thy Saints rejoice!

When righteous inquisition shall be made,
And the books opened, and the thrones arrayed,
My soul, what plea to shield thee canst thou know,
Who hast no fruit of righteousness to show,
No holy deeds to bring
To Christ the Lord and King?

I hear the rich man's wail and bitter cry,
Out of the torments of eternity;
I know, beholding that devouring flame,
My guilt and condemnation are the same;
And spare me, Lord, I say,
In the great Judgment Day!

The Word and Spirit, with the Father One,
One Light and emanation of One Sun,
The Word by generation, we adore,
The Spirit by procession, evermore;
And with creation raise
The thankful hymn of praise.

Ode IX

The Lord draws nigh, the righteous Throne's Assessor,
The just to save, to punish the transgressor:
Weep we, and mourn, and pray,
Regardful of that day;
When all the secrets of all hearts shall be
Lit with the blaze of full eternity.

Clouds and thick darkness o’er the Mount assembling,
Moses beheld the Eternal's glory, trembling:
And yet he might but see
God's feebler Majesty.
And I—I needs must view His fullest Face:
O spare me, Lord! O take me to Thy grace!

David of old beheld, in speechless terror,
The session of the Judge—the doom of error:
And what have I to plead
For mercy in my need?
Nothing save this: O grant me yet to be,
Ere that day come, renewed and true to Thee!

Here, fires of deep damnation roar and glitter:
The worm is deathless, and the cup is bitter:
There, day that hath no morrow,
And joy that hath no sorrow:
And who so blest that he shall fly the abyss,
Rais’d up to God'S Right Hand, and speechless bliss!

My soul with many an act of sin is wounded:
With mortal weakness is my frame surrounded:
My life is well nigh o’er:
The Judge is at the door
How wilt thou, miserable spirit, fare,
What time He sends His summons through the air?