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God comes! — and who shall stand before His fear?
Who bide His Presence, when He draweth near?
My soul, my soul, prepare
To kneel before Him there!
Haste, — weep, — be reconciled to Him before
The fearful judgment knocketh at the door,
Where, in the Judge’s eyes,
All bare and naked lies.
Have mercy, Lord, have mercy. Lord, I cry,
When with Thine angels Thou appear’st on high,
And each a doom shall herit
According to his merit.
How can I bear Thy fearful anger, Lord?
I, that so often have transgress’d Thy word?
But put my sins away,
And spare me in that day!
O miserable soul, return, lament.
Ere earthly converse end, and life be spent:
Ere, time for sorrow o’er,
The Bridegroom close the door!
Yea, I have sinned, as no man sinned beside:
With more than human guilt my soul is dyed:
But spare and save me here,
Before that day appear!
Three Persons in one Essence uncreate,
On Whom, both Three and One, our praises wait,
Give everlasting light
To them that sing Thy might!
-ST. THEODORE OF THE STUDIUM.