2 While in the slippery paths of youth,
Be thou their guardian-thou their guide;
That they, directed by thy truth,
May never from thy precepts slide.
3 To read thy word their hearts incline;
To understand it, light impart:
O Saviour! let their all be thine!
Take full possession of each heart.
C. M.
BESTOW, O Lord, upon our youth
The gift of saving grace,
And let the seed of sacred truth
Fall in a fruitful place.
2 Grace is a plant, where'er it grows,
Of pure and heavenly root;
But fairest in the youngest shows,
And yields the sweetest fruit.
3 Ye careless ones, oh, hear betimes
The voice of saving love!
Your youth is stained with numerous crimes,
But mercy reigns above.
4 For you the public prayer is made;
Oh, join the public prayer!
For you the sacred tear is shed;
Oh, shed yourselves a tear!
5 We pray that you may early prove
The Saviour's quickening grace;
Too young you cannot taste his love,
Or seek his smiling face.
587 Pleasure of instructing the Young.
BLEST work! the youthful mind to win,
And turn the rising race
From dark and dangerous paths of sin,
To seek redeeming grace.
2 Children our kind protection claim;
And God will well approve,
. When infants learn to lisp his name,
And their Redeemer love.
3 Be ours the bliss, in wisdom's way
To guide untutored youth,
And show the mind which went astray
The way, the life, the truth!
Thy Spirit, Father! on us shed,
And bless this good design:
The honors of thy name be spread,
Be all the glory thine.
Parting with earthly Joys.
MY soul forsakes her vain delight
And bids the world farewell;
On things of sense why fix my sight?
Why on its pleasures dwell?
2 There's nothing round this spacious earth
That suits my soul's desire;
To boundless joy, and solid mirth,
My nobler thoughts aspire.
3 No longer will I ask its love,
Nor seek its friendship more;
The happiness that I approve
Is not within its power.
4 Oh! for the pinions of a dove,
T'ascend the heavenly road:
There shall I share my Saviour's love;
There shall I dwell with God.
I SEND the joys of earth away;
Away, ye tempters of the mind,
False as the smooth, deceitful sea,
And empty as the whistling wind.
2 Your streams were floating me along
Down to the gulf of black despair;
And while I listened to your song,
Your streams had ev'n conveyed me there
Aff 3 Lord, I adore thy matchless grace,
That warned me of that dark abyss,
That drew me from those dangerous seas,
And bade me seek superior bliss.
mf 4 Now to the shining realms above
I stretch my hands, and glance mine eyes, Oh! for the pinions of a dove,
To bear me to the upper skies!
5 There, from the presence of my God,
Oceans of endless pleasure roll;
There would I fix my last abode,
And drown the sorrows of my soul.
Earthly Pleasures dangerous.
HOW vain are all things here below!
How false, and yet how fair!
Each pleasure hath its poison too,
And every sweet a snare.
2 The brightest things below the sky
Shine with deceitful light;
We should suspect some danger nigh,
Where we possess delight.
3 Our dearest joys-our nearest friends-
The partners of our blood-
How they divide our wavering minds,
And leave but half for God!
4 The fondness of a creature's love,
How strong it strikes the sense!
'Tis there the warm affections move,
Nor can we call them thence.
5 Dear Saviour! let thy beauties be
My soul's eternal food,
And grace command my heart away
From all created good.
Vanity of the World and Happiness of Heaven.
HOW vain is all beneath the skies!
How transient every earthly bliss!
How slender all the fondest ties,
That binds us to a world like this!
2 The evening cloud-the morning dew-
The withering grass-the fading flower,
Of earthly hopes are emblems true-
The glory of a passing hour!
3 But, though earth's fairest blossoms die,
And all beneath the skies is pain,
There is a land, whose confines lie
Beyond the reach of care and pain.
mf 4 Then let the hope of joys to come
Dispel our cares, and chase our fears:
If God be ours, we're travelling home,
Though passing through a vale of tears.
Religion a Support in Life.
WHEN gloomy thoughts and fears
The trembling heart invade,
And all the face of nature wears
An universal shade,-
2 Religion can assuage
The tempest of the soul;
And every fear shall lose its rage
At her divine control.
3 Through life's bewildered way,
Her hand unerring leads;
And o'er the path her heavenly ray
A cheering lustre sheds.
4 When reason, tired and blind,
Sinks helpless and afraid;
Thou, blest supporter of the mind,
How powerful is thine aid!
Aff 5 Oh let me feel thy power,
And find thy sweet relief,
mf> To cheer my every gloomy hour,
And calm my every grief.
LET others boast how strong they be,
Nor death nor danger fear;
But we'll confess, O Lord, to thee,
What feeble things we are.
2 Fresh as the grass our bodies stand,
And flourish bright and gay;
A blasting wind sweeps o'er the land,
And fades the grass away.
3 Our Maker, God, supports our frame;
In God alone we trust!
Salvation to th' almighty name
That reared us from the dust.
Flight of Time.
TIME is winging us away
To our eternal home;
Life is but a winter's day-
A journey to the tomb:
Youth and vigor soon will flee,
Blooming beauty lose its charms;
All that's mortal soon shall be
Enclosed in death's cold arms.
2 Time is winging us away
To our eternal home;
Life is but a winter's day-
A journey to the tomb:
But the Christian shall enjoy
Health and beauty, soon, above,
Far beyond the world's alloy
Secure in Jesus' love.
HOW short and hasty is our life!
How vast our soul's affairs!
Yet senseless mortals vainly strive
To lavish out their years.
2 Our days run thoughtlessly along,
Without a moment's stay;
Just like a story, or a song,
We pass our lives away.
3 God from on high invites us home,
But we march heedless on,
And, ever hastening to the tomb,
Stoop downward as we run.
4 How we deserve the deepest hell,
That slight the joys above!
What chains of vengeance should we feel,
That break such cords of love!
Aff 5 Draw us, O God, with sovereign grace,
And lift our thoughts on high,
That we may end this mortal race,
And see salvation nigh.
THE time is short!-sinners, beware,
Nor trifle time away;
The word of great salvation hear,
While yet 'tis called to-day.
2 The time is short!-O sinners, now,
To Christ the Lord submit ;
To mercy's golden sceptre bow,
And fall at Jesus' feet.
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