Imatges de pàgina
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266. P. M.

The Shortness and Uncertainty of Life. HILE, with ceaseless course, the sun Hasted through the former year, Many souls their race have run, Never more to meet us here.

2 Finish'd here probation's day,
They have done with all below;
We a little longer stay,

But how little, none can know.
3 As the winged arrow flies,
Speedily the mark to find;
As the lightning from the skies
Darts, and leaves no trace behind;
4 Swiftly thus our fleeting days
Bear us down life's rapid stream;
Upwards, LORD our spirits raise;
All below is like a dream.

5 Thanks for mercies past receive;
Pardon of our sins renew;

Teach us henceforth how to live,
With eternity in view.

6 Bless thy word to young and old ;
Fill our hearts with filial love;
And, when life's short tale is told,
May we dwell with thee above.

267. c. M.

Serious Reflections on our Moral Condition.

AND now, my soul! another year

Of my short life is past :

I cannot long continue here;
And this may be my last.

2 Part of my doubtful life is gone,
Nor will return again;

And swift my fleeting moments run,
The few which yet remain !

3 Awake my soul! with all thy care

Thy true condition learn!

What are thy hopes, how sure, how fair?
And what thy great concern?

4 Now a new space of life begins!
Set out afresh for heav'n:
Seek pardon for thy former sins,
Through Christ so freely giv'n.
5 Devoutly yield thyself to GOD,
And on his grace depend;
With zeal pursue the heav'nly road,
Nor doubt a happy end.

268. c. M.

Reflections on the Circumstances of the past Year.

1 MARK how the swift-wing'd minutes fly,

And hours still hasten on!

How swift the circling months run round!
How soon the year is gone.

2 Let me iudulge the serious thought;
The year that's past review;

What good, what evil, have I done?
What work have I to do?

3 How is my debt of love increas'd
To that sustaining Power,

Who hath upheld my feeble frame,
And brought me to this hour!

4 For all thy favours, O my GOD!
Thy goodness I adore ;

Thou hast my cup with blessings fill'd
And made that cup run o'er.

5 For thy great mercy's sake, forgive
The guilt that marks the year;
And may I more than ever strive
To keep my conscience clear.

-6 What shall befall in future life

I

I would not, LORD! inquire: To be prepar'd for all thy will,Be this my chief desire.

269. L. M.

The Possibility of Dying this Year. REAT GOD! we in thy courts appear, Whose blessings crown the op'ning year;

Our feeble lives thy care prolongs,

And wakes anew our annual songs.

2 What numbers in the little space,
Have vacant left, on earth, their place,
Since from this day, the circling sun
Hath his last yearly period run!
3 We yet survive; but who can say,
Or through a year, a month, or day,
Secure from the attack of death,
He shall retain his vital breath?
4 That breath is always in thy hand,

And stays, or goes at thy command;
We hold our lives from thee alone,
Their limits all to us unknown.

5 To thee would we our life resign,

Let life but while it lasts be thine,
And we can have no cause to fear,
Though it should end this present year.
6 Though we, as time rolls swiftly on,
Borne on its tide, must soon be gone,
Yet, thankful, we behold the shore,
Where we shall live to die no more.

270. C. M.

Reflections on our Waste of Time.

1 REMARK, my soul! the narrow bounds

Of the revolving year!

How soon the weeks complete their rounds!
How short the months appear!

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2 Much of my dubious life is past,

Nor will return again;

How swift the fleeting moments haste!
How few may yet remain !

3 Great GOD! awake this trifling heart
My great concern to see ;

That I may choose the better part,
And wholly live to thee.

4 Then shall their course more grateful roll, If future years arise;

Or this prepare my waiting soul

For joy that never dies.

271. c. M.

On the Death of a Young Person.

1 WHEN blooming youth is snatch'd away

By death's resistless hand,

Our hearts the mournful tribute pay,
Which sorrows must demand.

2 While pity prompts the rising sigh,
Oh may this truth, impress'd

With awful power, I too must die,'—
Sink deep in every breast!

3 Let this vain world engage no more;
Behold the op'ning tomb!

It bids us seize the present hour;
To morrow death may come.

4 The voice of this alarming scene
May every heart obey;

Nor be the heav'nly warning vain, Which calls to watch and pray! 272. C. M.

On the Death of a Young Person.

1 LIFE is a span, a fleeting hour;
How soon the vapour flies!

Man is a tender, transient flower,
That e'en in blooming dies.

2 Death spreads like winter's frozen arms,
And beauty siniles no more:

Ah! where are now those rising charms
Which pleas'd our eyes before?

3 The once lov'd form, now cold and dead,
Each mournful thought employs;
And nature weeps, her comforts fled,
And wither'd all her joys.

4 But wait the interposing gloom,
And lo! stern winter flies;

And dress'd in beauty's fairest bloom,
The flow'ry tribes arise.

5 Hope looks beyond the bounds of time,
When what we now deplore,
Shall rise in full immortal prime,
And bloom, to fade no more.

6 Then cease, fond nature! cease thy tears;
Religion points on high;

There everlasting spring appears,

And joys which cannot die.

273. C. M.

The Sorrows of Nature soothed by the Prospects of the Gospel.

1 WHILE to the grave our friends are borne,

Around their cold remains,

How all the tender passions mourn,
And each fond heart complains!

2 But down to earth, alas! in vain
We bend our weeping eyes;

Ah! let us leave these seats of pain,
And upward learn to rise.

3 Hope cheerful smiles amid the gloom,
And beams a healing ray;

And guides us from the darksome tomb,
To realms of endless day.

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