O how ought we to hear
The gospel of our Lord,
How ’scape the punishment severe,
And gain the full reward!
By this we stand or fall:
This awful word shall be
Savour of life or death to all,
Of heaven or hell—to me.
O how ought we to hear
Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘Take heed how ye hear.'—[Luke 8,] v. 18.” This hymn appears in the 1766 manuscript “MS Luke.” This manuscript is part of the collection of the Methodist Archive and Research Centre in The John Rylands Library, The University of Manchester (accession number MA 1977/575, Charles Wesley Notebooks Box 3). Accessed through the website of The Center for Studies in the Wesleyan Tradition, Duke Divinity School. Published in S.T. Kimbrough Jr. and Oliver A. Beckerlegge, eds., The Unpublished Poetry of Charles Wesley, vol. 2 (Nashville: Kingswood Books, 1990), page 105.
Publishing: Public Domain