That day of wrath, that dreadful day,
When heaven and earth shall pass away,
What power shall be the sinner's stay?
How shall he meet that dreadful day?
When, shrivelling like a parched scroll,
The naming heavens together roll;
When louder yet, and yet more dread,
Swells the high trump that wakes the dead.
Oh! on that day, that wrathful day,
When man to judgment wakes from clay,
Be THOU the trembling sinner's stay,
Though heaven and earth shall pass away.
The same poet was heard to quote portions of the hymn on his deathbed,
and the last words of the Earl of Roscommon, author of one of the
well-known versions, were a rendering of line 51:
My God, my Father, and my Friend,
Do not forsake me in my end!
Hundreds of metrical translations of this hymn exist. A good selection
will be found in Nott, _Seven Great Hymns).
1. Dies irae, dies illa, dies tribulationis et angustiae, dies
calamitatis et miseriae, etc.--Zephaniah 1. 16. Cf. dies magnus irae,
Revelation 6. 17. 2. Shall lay the world in glowing ashes. Cf. 2 Peter
3. 10-12, especially 'The elements shall melt with fervent heat.' 3.
Teste David cum Sibylla: Jew and Gentile both testify that the Day of
Judgment shall come. As Vergil in his fourth _Eclogue_ was believed to
have foretold Christ, so the Sibyl was thought to have prophesied the
Day of Judgment. This was due to the still extant 'Sibylline Oracles,' a
collection of twelve books in Greek hexameters supposed to have emanated
from the Sibyl, but really pretended prophesies composed in the interest
of their respective religions partly by Alexandrian Jews, partly by
Christians. For the witness of David see Psalms 11. 5, 6; 96. 13; 97. 2,
3. Cf. Trench, pp. 303, 304. Teste David is ablative absolute. 6.
Discussurus: investigate, a meaning not classic in the literary
language. 7. Tuba: 'the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be
raised.'--1 Corinthians 15. 52. Cf. 1 Thessalonians 4. 16. 11. creatura:
every creature. 13. Liber scriptus: Daniel 1. 10; Revelation 20. 12. 16.
Matthew 25. 31. 17. Luke 12. 2. 20. patronum: advocate, 1 John 2. 1. 21.
vix iustus: 'if the righteous is scarcely saved.'--1 Peter 4. 18. 22-24.
King of awful majesty,
Saving sinners graciously,
Fount of mercy, save Thou me!
23. gratis: freely, Revelation 21. 6. 28-30. Dr. Johnson frequently
quoted this stanza with tears. 28. 'Jesus, being wearied with his
journey, sat thus by the well.'--John 4. 6. 33. 'After a long time the
Lord of those servants cometh and maketh a reckoning with them.'--
Matthew 25. 19. 37. The writer identifies Mary Magdalene with 'the woman
which was a sinner' to whom Jesus said, 'Thy sins are forgiven thee.'
38. latronem: the penitent thief, Luke 23. 39 ff. 43-48. Matthew 25. 31
ff. 49. acclinis: bowing before Thee. 50. A heart bruised even as ashes.
The literal meaning of contritum, 'separated into small pieces,' is
strongly in mind. Cf. cor contritum; Psalms 51. 17. Cor is in apposition
with the subject of oro. 52-57. These lines adapt the hymn to the
service. 56, 57. Note the wonderful sweetness of these lines, like calm
after storm.