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!

1 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

C. M.

Pleasure of instructing the Young.

Oakland Ely.

1 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!

4 Thy Spirit, Father! on us shed,
And bless this good design:

588

The honors of thy name be spread;
Be all the glory thine.

C. M.

Parting with earthly Joys.

Bedford. Ely.

1 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.

589

L. M.

Danvers. Hingham.

1 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.

590

Earthly Pleasures dangerous.

1 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.

591

Vanity of the World and Happiness of Heaven.
1 HOW vain is all beneath the skies!
How transient every earthly bliss!
How slender all the fondest ties,

That bind 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 vain,
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.

Λ

592

Religion a Support in Life.

1 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.

593

C. M.

Human Frailty.

Grafton. Medfield

1 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!

594

Salvation to th' almighty name
That reared us from the dust.

7s & 68.

Flight of Time.

1 TIME is winging us away
To our eternal home;
Life is but a winter's day-
A journey to the tomb :

Amsterdam.

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.

595

C. M.

Time short and misspent.

Grafton. Bether.

1 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
And see salvation nigh.

596

C. M.

race,

Grafton. Ely.

1 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.