Lucidor’s
Wake-Up Call
Oh
sinful man, safe and secure while resting,
In
sin’s sleep and death’s torpor snugly nesting,
Awake,
arise, for now your time is nigh,
See,
God still views you kindly from on high
See,
with what loving kindness God would wake you,
And
to his outstretched Father’s arms would take you;
Do
not delay, accept their warm embrace –
Though
late, true penitence gains saving grace.
When
time for mercy finally is ended
And
sand in your life’s hour-glass is expended,
All
is too late. Then heaven’s door’s shut tight
For
all eternity – oh, dreadful plight!
Read
well your heart, your abjectness berating,
Consider
the eternity that’s waiting;
Think
what reward awaits the godly man,
The
grim revenge in store for all those damned.
What
is your life? Mere smoke that soon will vanish.
What
is desire? A stream time soon will banish.
What’s
loveliness? A bag of worms and slime.
What’s
gold, possessions? Glaury clay and grime.
What’s
noble birth? a word that has no meaning.
What’s
strength? In death but weakness overweening.
What’s
wisdom? Art? mere figments of the mind.
What’s
striving, zeal? Exertions that are blind.
What
is eternity? Time without ending.
What’s
Heav’n? The land to which we would be wending:
What’s
God? Our solace, joy, our stronghold sure,
In
death, pain, sorrow, bliss for ever more.
What
is eternity? Time without buffer.
What’s
Hell? A fire in which all damned souls suffer.
What’s
Satan? One who tempts us unawares,
Who
peace of mind, faith, e’en the soul ensnares.
My
soul, consider what gift God’s bestowing:
Those
who lead godly lives on earth are going
To
live for ever. He himself will dry
Our
many tears, and shield us by and by.
Consider
though the torments grim and horrid
The
godless suffer; flaming depths so torrid,
Where
there is no redemption since they’re doomed,
Where
they will burn, yet never be consumed.
Body
and limbs – shake, shudder, quake and quiver,
Hair–
stand on end; my thoughts – plunge like some river
Into
the abyss, and see the torment glower
That
all erodes, yet nothing will devour.
Rejoice
my soul, my heart, my mind and being!
Sing
out my tongue, gleam bright my eye when seeing
What
sweet delights God’s saints now share, what bliss -
I
shed glad tears each time I think of this!
Just
think how good God is, who’d you be healing,
How
evil Satan, who’d your soul be stealing:
Flee,
sin! You serpent, by hot venom spurred,
Abide
by God and by his Holy Word.
Take
every care your lamp by nought is stricken,
and
o’er your soul no devil’s dark clouds thicken;
And
should you fall, rise up at once again –
With
all your might, strive to become God’s friend.
Say
to your God: O God of mercy, hear me!
I
know too well there’s nothing to endear me!
That
wrath, death, hell-fire were for me reserved
Shoulds’t
Thou now judge me as I have deserved.
But
were my sin a thousand times more dire,
No
greater mercy would it yet require;
Upon
this rock I stand unshakeably:
Steadfast
in faith, my God, my trust’s in Thee!!!
To see the original, go to here. Those familiar with the hymn version may well be surprised at the gruesome and grisly parts of the original poem. The subsequent alterations are typical of church versions of such poems (Kingo in Denmark, for example), which were later deemed not to be 'salonfähig', or maybe 'Kirche-fähig'?
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