William Cowper (1731–1800)

        „Write to Sardis,” saith the Lord,

                „And write what He declares,

        He whose Spirit, and whose word,

                Upholds the seven stars:

All thy works and ways I search,

Find thy zeal and love decay’d;

Thou art call’d a living church,

                But thou art cold and dead.

        Watch, remember, seek, and strive,

                Exert thy former pains;

        Let thy timely care revive,

                And strengthen what remains:

Cleanse thine heart, thy works amend,

Former times to mind recall:

Lest my sudden stroke descend,

                And smite thee once for all.

        Yet I number now in thee,

                A few that are upright;

        These my Father’s face shall see,

                And walk with me in white:

When in judgment I appear,

They for mine shall be confest;

Let my faithful servants hear,

                And woe be to the rest.”