ADVENT HYMN.

Theme from the Dies IrÆ.

1.

That awful day of ire,

Ah, who shall bear that day!

When earth dissolves in fire,

And heaven shall roll away:

What trembling shall surprise

The guilty child of clay,

When opes that last assize:

Ah, who shall bear that day!

2.

When loud the trump shall sound,

Ah, who shall bear that day!

When shrill it echoes round,

Where long the slumberers lay;

When up from every tomb

Shall start the silent clay;

That dreadful day of doom,

Ah, who shall bear that day!

3.

Oh, death itself shall quake,

And nature shrink away,

When from the clods they break,

To meet that dreadful day!

Ah, when the just are pale,

What shall the guilty say!

Ah, who shall heed their wail;

Ah, who shall bear that day!

4.

Tremendous Monarch! now

To thy majestic sway

Our trembling spirits bow,

Or ere that dreadful day!

Oh, save us, Fount of Love!

Oh, wash our sin away!

Spare—spare us, God above!

Else who shall bear that day!

5.

Oh, Judge Supreme and Just,

Appalled, I bend and pray!

Oh God, I shrink to dust!

How can I bear that day!

That day of dread surprise!

Jesu, be thou my stay,

That awful day of sighs:

Else, who shall bear that day!

6.

That awful day of ire,

When heaven shall roll away,

When earth dissolves in fire;

That day—that awful day!

Its trumpet, in the tomb

Shall stir the shrouded clay;

That dreadful day of doom;

Oh who shall bear that day!