Christ My Song - 63
Trembling before thine awful throne
(Augustus Lucas Hillhouse/Johannes Thomas Rüegg)
Trembling before thy throne.
1. Trembling before thine awful throne,
O Lord! in dust my sins I own:
Justice and Mercy for my life
contend! – O smile, and heal the strife! PDF - Midi
2. The Saviour smiles! Upon my soul
new tides of hope tumultuous roll:
his voice proclaims my pardon found,
seraphic transport wings the sound!
3. Earth has a joy unknown in heaven –
the new-born peace of sin forgiven!
Tears of such pure and deep delight,
ye angels! never dimmed your sight.
4. Ye saw of old on chaos rise
the beauteous pillars of the skies;
ye know where morn exulting springs,
and evening folds her drooping wings.
5. Bright heralds of the Eternal Will,
abroad his errands ye fulfill;
or, throned in floods of beamy day,
symphonious in his presence play.
6. Loud is the song, – the heavenly plain
is shaken with the choral strain;
and dying echoes, floating far,
draw music from each chiming star.
7. But I amid your choirs shall shine,
and all your knowledge shall be mine:
ye on your harps must lean to hear
a secret chord that mine will bear!
Augustus Lucas Hillhouse, in: Philip Schaff: Christ in Song, 1870, 400-401.