2 Thy earthly sabbaths, LORD! we love,
But there's a nobler rest above;
To that thy servants all aspire,
With ardent hope and strong desire.
3 There languor shall no more oppress;
The heart shall feel no more distress;
No groans shall mingle with the songs,
Which dwell upon immortal tongues.
4 No anxious cares shall there annoy;
No conscious guilt disturb the joy;
But every doubt and fear shall cease,
And perfect love give perfect peace.
5 Soon will the glorious day begin,
Which ends the reign of death and sin;
LORD! give us then those joys to know,
Which from celestial worship flow.
Approaching Death and Judgment.
HE day approaches, O my soul!
The great decisive day,
Which, from the verge of mortal life,
Shall bear thee far away.
2 Another day more awful dawns ;
And lo! the Judge appears;
All nations stand before his bar,
With mingled hopes and fears.
3 Yet does one short preparing hour,
One precious hour remain ;
Rouse then, my soul! with all thy power,
Nor let it pass in vain.
143. L. M.
The Day of Judgment.
1 ARISE my soul! extend thy wings
Beyond the verge of mortal things:
And meditate the awful day,
When this vain world shall pass away.
2 The wreck of nature all around,
The angels' shout, the trumpets sound,
Loud the descending Judge proclaim,
And echo his tremendous name.
3 Children of Adam! all appear,
The great decisive sentence hear;
For as his lips pronounce, ye go
To realms of bliss, or realms of woe.
4 LORD! to my eyes this scene display;
Frequent, through each revolving day;
That, (lost in this each meaner care,)
I may to meet my Judge prepare.
144. P. M.
The Day of Judgment.
EAR O ye dead! awake, arise!
The sounding trumpet shakes the skies! The awful Judge is near:
Angelic guards attend him down;
And flaming round his fiery throne
A thousand terrors glare.
2 Pale guilt looks upwards with amaze;
She trembles while the terrors blaze,
And conscience tells her doom:
Struck with unutterable dread,
The sinner fain would hide his head,
And shrink within the tomb.
3 But ye, his happy saints, rejoice;
No terrors hath the Monarch's voice,
His looks no frowns for you:
He comes your spirits to convey
To regions of eternal day,
To joys for ever new.
4 'Bless'd of my Father! haste,' he cries; In shining triumph mount the skies,
To nobler worlds above;
share my
ye
And taste the fulness of delight,
In my eternal love.'
HYMNS RELATING TO THE USUAL CIRCUMSTANCES OF LIFE.
Life the Day of Mercy and Hope.
IFE is the time to serve the LORD,
The time to insure the great reward;
And, while the lamp holds out to burn,
The greatest sinner may return.
2 Life is the hour which Go hath given,
To fit us for the joys of heaven,-
The day of grace, and mortals may
Secure the blessings of the day.
3 Then the great work we have to do,
Let us with all our might pursue ;
And wisely every hour employ,
That faith and hope may turn to joy.
Time flying, and Death approaching.
awful hour will soon appear,
Swift on the wings of time it flies, When all the pains or pleasures here Will vanish from my closing eyes.
2 Think, O my soul! how much depends
On the short period of to-day:
Shall time, which Heav'n in mercy lends,
Be negligently thrown away?
3 Thy remnant minutes strive to use:
Awake! rouse ev'ry active power!
And not in dreams and trifles lose
This little, this important hour!
4 Lord of my life! inspire my heart With heav'nly ardour, grace divine; Nor let thy presence e'er depart,
For strength, and life, and death, are thine.
5 O teach me the celestial skill
Each awful warning to improve!
And while my days are short'ning still,
Prepare me for the joys above!
God the Preserver of frail Man.
1 THOUGH others, confident and vain, Nor death nor danger fear,
We would a lively sense maintain,
That death is ever near.
2 Just like 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 life contains a thousand springs,
And droops if one be gone;
Strange that a harp of thousand strings
Should keep in tune so long.
4 'Tis God alone upholds our frame,
Who rear'd it from the dust;
Hosanna to his mighty name,
In whom is all our trust!
The Vanity of Human Life.
1 FRAIL life of man-how short its stay,
And various as the wind!
Heedless we sport our hours away,
Nor think of death behind.
2 See the fair cheek of beauty fade,
Frail glory of an hour;
And blooming youth, with sick'ning head,
Droop like a dying flower.
3 Wealth, pomp, and honour, we behold,
With an admiring eye,
Like summer's insects dress'd in gold.
That flutter, shine, and die,
4 Then rise, my soul ! and soar away,
Above the thoughtless crowd,
Above the pleasures of the gay,
And splendours of the proud,-
5 Where everlasting beauties bloom,
And pleasures all divine ;
Where wealth that never can consume,
And endless glories shine.
The Frailty of Human life.
HE morning flowers display their sweets,
And gay their silken leaves unfold,"
As careless of the noon-day heats,
As fearless of the evening cold.
2 Nipp'd by the wind's unkindly blast,
Parch'd by the sun's directer ray,
The momentary glories waste,
The short-liv'd beauties die away.
3 So blooms the human face divine,
When youth its pride and beauty shows;
Fairer than spring the colours shine,
And sweeter than the opening rose.
4 Or worn by slowly rolling years,
Or broke by sickness in a day,
The fading glory disappears,
The short-lived beauties die away.
5 Yet these, new-rising from the tomb,
With lustre brighter far shall shine,
Revive with ever-during bloom,
Safe from diseases and decline.
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