DESCRIBING DEATH.
70 Jesus! ride on Till all are subdued,
Thy mercy make known, And sprinkle thy S. M. blood;
[ song Display thy salvation, And teach the new To every nation, And people, and tongue.
( 3.) DESCRIBING DEATH.
41 ¹0 come,
Psalm xc. 1-5. GOD! our help in ages past,
Our shelter from the stormy blast, And our eternal home:
2 Under the shadow of thy throne, Still may we dwell secure; Sufficient is thine arm alone, And our defence is sure.
3 Before the hills in order stood, Or earth received her frame, From everlasting thou art God, To endless years the same.
4 A thousand ages in thy sight Are like an evening gone, Short as the watch that ends the night Before the rising sun.
C. M.
5 The busy tribes of flesh and blood, With all their cares and fears,
Are carried downward by the flood, And lost in following years.
6 Time, like an ever- rolling stream, Bears all its sons away; They fly forgotten, as a dream Dies at the opening day.
70 God! our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be thou our guard while life shall last, And our perpetual home.
42
1 THEE we adore, eternal name! own to thee,
How feeble is our mortal frame, What dying worms we be!
2 Our wasting lives grow shorter still, As days and months increase; And every beating pulse we tell Leaves but the number less.
C. M.
3 The year rolls round, and steals away The breath that first it gave; Whate'er we do, where'er we be,
We are travelling to the grave.
4 Dangers stand thick through all the To push us to the tomb:
[ ground,
And fierce diseases wait around, To hurry mortals home.
7 Waken, O Lord, our drowsy sense, To walk this dangerous road! And if our souls be hurried hence, May they be found with God!
5 Great God! on what a slender thread Hang everlasting things;
The eternal states of all the dead Upon life's feeble strings!
6 Infinite joy, or endless woe,
Depends on every breath;
And yet how unconcerned we go Upon the brink of death!
1 AND am I born to die?
A To lay this body down?
And must my trembling spirit fly Into a world unknownA land of deepest shade, Unpierced by human thought, The dreary regions of the dead, Where all things are forgot? 2 Soon as from earth I go, What will become of me? Eternal happiness or woe
Must then my portion be; Waked by the trumpet's sound, I from my grave shall rise, And see the Judge with glory crowned, And see the flaming skies.
3 How shall I leave my tomb? With triumph or regret?
A fearful or a joyful doom, A curse or blessing meet? Will angel- bands convey Their brother to the bar? Or devils drag my soul away,
To meet its sentence there?
4 Who can resolve the doubt That tears my anxious breast? Shall I be with the damned cast out, Or numbered with the blest?
I must from God be driven,
Or with my Saviour dwell;
Must come at his command to heaven,
Or else- depart to hell.
5 0 thou that wouldst not have
One wretched sinner die,
43
Who diedst thyself, my soul to save
From endless misery!
Show me the way to shun
Thy dreadful wrath severe,
That when thou comest on thy throne,
I may with joy appear.
6 Thou art thyself the Way;
Thyself in me reveal;
So shall I spend my life's short day Obedient to thy will;
So shall I love my God, Because he first loved me,
And praise thee in thy bright abode, To all eternity.
8s& 6 s. 1
And must I suddenly comply With nature's stern decree?
What after death for me remains? Celestial joys, or hellish pains, To all eternity?
44
2 How then ought I on earth to live, While God prolongs the kind reprieve, And props the house of clay? My sole concern, my single care, To watch, and tremble, and prepare Against the fatal day.
3 No room for mirth or trifling here, For worldly hope, or worldly fear, If life so soon is gone:
11