Awake! My sluggish soul!

853 C. M.
Lamenting spiritual sloth.

MY drowsy powers, why sleep ye so?
   Awake, my sluggish soul:
   Nothing hath half thy work to do,
   Yet nothing’s half so dull.

2 Go to the ants! for one poor grain
   See how they toil and strive;
   Yet we who have a heaven to’ obtain,
   How negligent we live !—

3 We, for whose sake all nature stands.
   And stars their courses move;
   We, for whose guard the angel bands
   Come flying from above :—

4 We, for whom God the Son came down;
   And labour’d for our good;
   How careless to secure that crown
   He purchased with his blood!

5 Lord, shall we live so sluggish still,
   And never act our parts?
   Come, holy Dove, from the heavenly hill,
   And warm our frozen hearts!

6 Give us with active warmth to move,
   With vig’rous souls to rise;
   With hands of faith, and wings of love,
   To fly and take the prize.
                         Isaac Watts
                         Methodist Episcopal hymnal (1870 edition)