Awake, awake, my sluggish soul

Awake, awake, my sluggish soul. Ottiwell Heginbothom. [Watchfulness.] This hymn on Christian watchfulness was first published posthumously in his Hymns, or Spiritual Songs, for the Use of Christian Assemblies (1794), consisting of 6 stanzas of 4 lines. The text is founded upon the passage in St. Luke 12:38-39 concerning the faithful servant awaiting the master's return.

The hymn was brought into wider common use in 1812 when William Bengo Collyer included it in an unaltered form in his influential Collection (No. 653). From Collyer's volume, it was reprinted in numerous English and American collections. In American hymnals, various editors adjusted the text to suit local liturgical preferences. Several American compilations omit stanzas v and vi entirely, while others recast the opening line to read "Awake, awake, each drowsy soul", as seen in the Baptist Praise Book (1871, No. 558). Additional selections from the original text were made for specific hymnals, such as the Baptist Church Praise Book (New York, 1872), which selected stanzas i, iii, and iv, and Church Pastorals (Boston, 1864), which compiled a four-stanza hymn from stanzas i, iii, v, and vi.