Scripture Verse

When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die, and thou givest him not warning nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Ezekiel 3:18

Introduction

portrait
H. Grattan Guinness
1835–1910

Words: H. Grat­tan Guin­ess, in Hymns of the Chris­tian Life No. 3, ed­it­ed by Al­bert B. Simp­son, May A. Ste­phens & Mar­ga­ret M. Simp­son (New York: Al­li­ance Press, 1904), num­ber 169.

Music: Ha­rold L. Ste­phens, 1903 (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
Harold L. Stephens
1874–1947

Lyrics

Church of the liv­ing God, awake!
Awake from thy sin­ful sleep!
Dost thou not hear thy bro­thers’ cry
Still sound­ing o’er the deep?
Is it naught that one of ev­ery four
Of all the hu­man race
Should in China die, hav­ing ne­ver heard
The Gos­pel of God’s grace?

Refrain

Canst thou shut thine ear to the awf­ul sound,
The voice of thy bro­thers’ blood,
A mill­ion a month in Chi­na
Are dy­ing with­out God.

Watchman of God, thou seest now
The sword of de­struct­ion come;
Why sound­est not the warn­ing cry
’Mid hosts of hea­then­dom?
God says that if thou warn­est not
The wick­ed at His com­mand,
He shall per­ish but His blood shall be
Requirèd at thy hand.

Refrain

Go, for the Sav­ior sends thee forth
To call from the dist­ant East
Idolaters for whom Christ died,
To Hea­ven’s mar­riage feast.
The Gos­pel that thou hear­est now
The pow’r of God shall prove
To tri­umph o’er the souls of men
By th’om­ni­po­tence of love.

Refrain