1 Hasten, O sinner, to be wise,
And stay not for the morrow’s sun;
The longer wisdom you despise,
The harder is she to be won.
2 O hasten mercy to implore,
And stay not for the morrow’s sun,
For fear thy season should be o’er
Before this evening’s course be run.
3 Hasten, O sinner, to return,
And stay not for the morrow’s sun,
For fear thy lamp should fail to burn
Before the needful work is done.
4 Hasten, O sinner, to be blest,
And stay not for the morrow’s sun,
For fear the curse should thee arrest
Before the morrow is begun.
Amen.
Source: American Lutheran Hymnal #26
First Line: | Haste, O sinner! to be wise |
Title: | Escape For Thy Life |
Author: | Thomas Scott (1773) |
Meter: | 7.7.7.7 |
Language: | English |
Copyright: | Public Domain |
Hasten, [O] sinner, to be wise. T. Scott. [Exhortation to Repentance.] Published in his Lyric Poems, &c, 1773, No. 23, in 4 stanzas of 4 lines, as “Hasten, sinner, to be wise." The L.M. version of this hymn, "Hasten, O sinner, to be wise," appeared in Rippon's Selection, 1787, No. 116, stanza ii. with the additional stanza "O Lord, do Thou the sinner turn." Both forms are in common use in Great Britain and America: the original is in Snepp's Songs of Grace & Glory, 1872, No. 470, with Rippon's additional stanza reduced to 7's metre; and Rippon's text is in the Baptist Psalms & Hymns, 1858, No. 373. In the Oberlin Manual of Praise, 1880, No. 219, 3 stanzas are given in 7's metre as "Haste, O Sinner, now be wise “ [William T. Brooke]
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)