Shall time, which heaven in mercy lends,
Be negligently thrown away?
4 Thy remnant minutes strive to use;
Awake! rouse every active power!
And not in dreams and trifles lose
This little-this important hour!
5 Lord of my life, inspire my heart
With heavenly ardour, grace divine!
Nor let thy presence e'er depart,
For strength, and life, and death, are thine.
6 0 teach me the celestial skill
Each awful warning to improve;
And while my days are short'ning still,
Prepare for me the joys above!
I love to think of heav'n, where I shall meet
My fellow-travellers, and where no more
With grief or sin my mind will be disturb'd;
Where holy saints and holy angels dwell
In constant harmony and mutual love.
But, when my heart anticipates the sight
Of GOD INCARNATE, wearing on his side,
And hands, and feet, those marks of love di-
vine,
Which he on Calvary for me endur'd,
All heav'n beside is swallowed up in this;
And he who is my hope of heav'n below,
Appears the glory of my heav'n above.
COMFORT IN AFFLICTION.
1 Oh! thou who dry'st the mourner's tear,
How dark this world would be,
If, when deceiv'd and wounded here,
We could not fly to thee!
The friends who in our sunshine live,
When winter comes are flown;
And he who has but tears to give,
those tears alone;
But thou wilt heal that broken heart,
Which like the plants that throw
Their fragrance from the wounded part,
Breathes sweetness out of wo.
2 When joy no longer sooths or cheers,
And ev❜n the hope that threw
A moment's sparkle o'er our tears,
Is dimm'd and vanish'd too!
Oh who would bear life's stormy doom,
Did not thy wing of love
Come brightly wafting through the gloom
Our Peace-Branch from above!
Then sorrow, touch'd by thee grows bright
With more than rapture's ray;
As darkness shows us worlds of light
We never saw by day.
1 "We've no abiding city here,"
This may distress the worlding's mind;
But should not cost the saint a tear,
Who hopes a better rest to find.
2 "We've no abiding city here,"
Sad truth, were this to be our home;
But let this thought our spirits cheer,
"We seek a city yet to come."
S"We've no abiding city here:"
Then let us live as pilgrims do;
Let not the world our rest appear,
But let us haste from all below.
4"We've no abiding city here,"
We seek a city out of sight;
Zion its name-the Lord is there,
It shines with everlasting light.
5 Zion, Jehovah is her strength!
Secure she smiles at all her foes;
And weary travellers at length
Within her sacred walls repose.
6 O! sweet abode of peace and love,
Where pilgrims, freed from toil, are blest!
Had I the pinions of a dove,
I'd fly to thee and be at rest.
7 But hush, my soul, nor dare repine!
The time my God appoints is best;
While here to do his will be mine;
And his to fix my time of rest.
THE POWER OF GOD.
1 Thou art, O God, the life and light
Of all this wondrous world we see :
Its glow by day, its smiles by night,
Are but reflections caught from thee!
Where'er we turn, thy glories shine,
And all things fair and bright are thine.
2 When day with farewell beam delays,
Among the opening clouds of even,
And we can almost think we gaze
Through golden vistas into heaven,
Those hues that mark the sun's decline,
So soft, so radiant, Lord, are thine.
s When night, with wings of stormy gloom,
O'ershadows all the earth and skies,
Like some dark beauteous bird, whose
plume
Is sparkling with a thousand eyes,
That sacred gloom, those fires divine,
So grand, so countless, Lord, are thine.
4 When youthful spring around us breathes,
Thy Spirit warms her fragrant sigh,
And ev'ry flow'r the summer wreaths,
Is born beneath that kindling eye;
Where'er we turn, thy glories shine,
And all things fair and bright are thine.
WELCOME TO CHRISTIAN FRIENDS.
1 Kindred in Christ, for his dear sake,
A hearty welcome here receive;
May we together now partake
The joys which only he can give.
you and us, by grace, 'tis giv'n, To know the Saviour's precious name; And shortly we shall meet in heav'n, Our hope, our way, our end the same. 3 May he, by whose kind care we meet, Send his good Spirit from above; Make our communications sweet,
And cause our hearts to burn with love.
4 Forgotten be each worldly theme,
When christians see each other thus; We only wish to speak of him,
Who liv'd, and died, and reigns for us.
5 We'll speak of all he did, and said,
And suffer'd for us here below;
The path he mark'd for us to tread,
And what he's doing for us now.
6 Thus, as the moments pass away,
We'll love and wonder, and adore;
And hasten on the glorious day,
When we shall meet to part no more.
HEAVENLY MINSTREL.
1 Enthroned upon a hill of light,
A heavenly minstrel sings;
And sounds, unutterably bright,
Spring from the golden strings.
Who would have thought so fair a form
Once bent beneath an earthly storm!
|