Expostulation

I

No words can declare,
No fancy can paint,
What rage and despair,
What hopeless complaint,
Fill Satan’s dark dwelling,
The prison beneath⁠—
What weeping and yelling
And gnashing of teeth!

II

Yet sinners will choose
This dreadful abode!
Each madly pursues
The dangerous road;
Though God give them warning,
They onward will go,
They answer with scorning,
And rush upon woe.

III

How sad to behold
The rich and the poor,
The young and the old,
All blindly secure!
All posting to ruin,
Refusing to stop.
Ah! think what you’re doing,
While yet there is hope!

IV

How weak is your hand
To fight with the Lord!
How can you withstand
The edge of his sword?
What hope of escaping
For those who oppose,
When hell is wide gaping
To swallow his foes?

V

How oft have you dared
The Lord to his face!
Yet still you are spared
To hear of his grace.
O pray for repentance
And life-giving faith
Before the just sentence
Consign you to death.

VI

It is not too late
To Jesus to flee;
His mercy is great,
His pardon is free!
His blood has such virtue
For all that believe
That nothing can hurt you
If him you receive.