Fill us now with watchful care

1108 S. M.
The solemn midnight cry.

THOU Judge of quick and dead,
   Before whose bar severe,
   With holy joy or guilty dread,
   We all shall soon appear;
   Our caution’d souls prepare
   For that tremendous day,
   And fill us now with watchful care,
   And stir us up to pray:

2 To pray, and wait the hour,
   That awful hour unknown,
   When, robed in majesty and power,
   Thou shalt from heaven come down,
   The immortal Son of man,
   To judge the human race,
   With all thy Father’s dazzling train,
   With all thy glorious grace.

3 To damp our earthly joys,
   To’ increase our gracious fears,
   Forever let the archangel’s voice
   Be sounding in our ears
   The solemn midnight cry,—
   Ye dead, the Judge is come;
   Arise, and meet him in the sky,
   And meet your instant doom.

4 O may we all be found
   Obedient to thy word,
   Attentive to the trumpet’s sound,
   And looking for our Lord.
   O may we thus ensure
   A lot among the blest;
   And watch a moment to secure
   An everlasting rest.
                         Charles Wesley
                         Methodist Episcopal hymnal (1870 edition)