The dreadful day is come

Verse 1
The dreadful day is come
To fix a nation’s doom!
Who, when God doth this, shall live,
Stand before a righteous God,
’Gainst the world and Satan strive,
Strive resisting unto blood!

Verse 2
Well may our nature fear
The fiery trial near:
Who shall first his Lord betray?
Who his Master shall deny?
Which of us shall fall away?
Is it, Saviour, is it I?

Verse 3
I shall, I surely shall,
Without thy succour, fall:
Left, one moment left alone,
I shall make my ruin sure,
Shamefully my God disown,
Thee, and all thy saints abjure.

Verse 4
But, Lord, I trust in thee,
Thou wilt not go from me;
Thee thy pity shall constrain
Still with me, ev’n me, t’ abide;
Me, the weakest child of man,
Me for whom thy pity died.

Verse 5
O that I always may
On thee my spirit stay!
Poor and needy as I am,
Thou dost for my vileness care;
Thou hast call’d me by my name;
Thou wilt all my burdens bear.

Verse 6
Thou art the sinner’s friend,
I on thy love depend;
Help for all is laid on thee;
Faith and hope in thee I have;
As my day, my strength shall be,
Thou shall[1] to the utmost save.

Verse 7
Arm me with thy great power,
And come the fiery hour!
Then I in thy strength shall say,
(Feeblest of thy servants I)
I, tho’ all men fall away,
I will never thee deny.

Verse 8
Ready, thro’ grace, I am
To suffer for thy name;
When thou dost thyself bestow
On so poor a worm as me,
I shall then to prison go,
Gladly go to death with thee.

[1] Wesley changed “shall” to “shalt” in 1745.

Hymnal/Album: Introduced in Hymns for Times of Trouble and Persecution, published by John and Charles Wesley (London, 1744). Published in The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Collected and Arranged by G. Osborn, Vol. 4 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1869), page 14.
Publishing: Public Domain