Stanza 1
Poor sinners! little do they think
With whom they have to do!
But stand securely on the brink
Of everlasting woe.
Stanza 2
Belshazzar thus, profanely bold,
The Lord of hosts defied;
But vengeance soon his boasts controlled,
And humbled all his pride.
Stanza 3
He saw a hand upon the wall
(And trembled on his throne)
Which wrote his sudden dreadful fall
In characters unknown.
Stanza 4
Why should he tremble at the view
Of what he could not read?
Foreboding conscience quickly knew
His ruin was decreed.
Stanza 5
See him o'erwhelmed with deep distress!
His eyes with anguish roll;
His looks, and loosened joints, express
The terrors of his soul.
Stanza 6
His pomp and music, guests and wine,
No more delight afford;
O sinner, ere this case be thine,
Begin to seek the LORD.
Stanza 7
The law like this hand-writing stands,
And speaks the wrath of God;
But JESUS answers its demands,
And cancels it with blood.