Redemption from Sin and Death.
SONS of Adam! join to raise
Songs of gratitude and praise :
Emulate the choirs above;
Celebrate eternal love.
Raptur'd, all the sons of light
Hail'd the morn, with mercy bright,
When in beauty rose this globe,
Teeming life its gorgeous robe.
More the joy, the rapture higher,
(Joy and rapture love inspire,)
When the glorious charge from heaven,
To the Son of God was given :
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'Go, proclaim Jehovah's grace;
Fear destroy, and guilt efface;
Conquer death, unbar the grave:
Lo! thy work-a world to save.'
But the joy, the ecstasy!
Language fails and praises die,
When from myriad happy tongues
Warble thus immortal songs :
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'Where, O sin, thy deadly sting?
Where thy power, terrific king?
Christ triumphant! man restor❜d!
God, in all, by all ador'd!'
.Oн for a firm and lively faith,
That may the grave defy,
And, trusting what the gospel saith,
May triumph when we die!
Joyful, with all the strength we have,
Our feeble lips should sing,
'Where, is thy boasted victory, grave?
O death! where is thy sting?'
Pardon and life-O glorious word!
A life that never ends-
Were, by our dying, rising Lord,
Ensur'd to all his friends.
All glory be to God on high,
And endless thanks be paid,
Who makes us conquerors though we die, Through Christ our living Head.
Heaven the Reward of Virtuous Exertion.
THERE is a glorious world on high,
Resplendent with eternal day;
Faith views the blissful prospect nigh,
While God's own word reveals the way.
There shall the servants of the Lord
With never-fading lustre shine;
Surprising honour, vast reward,
Conferr'd on man by love divine!
How blest are those, how truly wise,
Who learn and keep the heavenly road!
Whom love, with holy zeal, employs
To bring the wanderer back to God.
The shining firmament shall fade,
And sparkling stars resign their light;
But these shall know nor change, nor shade,
For ever fair, for ever bright.
On wings of faith and strong desire
Oh may our spirits daily rise;
And reach at last the shining choir,
In the bright mansions of the skies!
Final Acceptance of all who fear God and work Righteousness.-Acts x. 35.
FROM north and south, from east and west,
Advance the myriads of the blest;
From every clime of earth they come,
And find in heaven a common home.
In one immortal throng we view
Pagan and Christian, Greek and Jew;
But all their doubts and darkness o'er,
One only God they now adore. ·
Howe'er divided here below,
One bliss, one spirit, now they know;
Though some ne'er heard of Jesus' name,
Yet God admits their humble claim.
On earth, according to their light,
They aim'd to practise what was right;
Hence are they graciously forgiven,
And Jesus welcomes them to heaven.
Heaven Invisible and Holy.
NOR eye hath seen, nor ear hath heard,
Nor sense nor reason known,
What joys the Father hath prepar'd
For those that love the Son.
But the good spirit of the Lord
Reveals a heaven to come;
The beams of glory in his word,
Allure and guide us home.
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The heavenly gates for ever bar
Pollution, sin, and shame :
Oh may we gain admittance there,
As followers of the Lamb.
THOSE happy realms of joy and peace Fain would my heart explore, Where grief and pain for ever cease, And I shall sin no more.
No darkness there shall cloud the eyes,
No languor seize the frame;
But ever active vigour rise,
To feed the vital flame.
But ah! a dreary vale between
Extends its awful gloom:
Fear spreads, to hide the distant scene,
The horrors of the tomb.
Oh for the eye of faith divine,
To pierce beyond the grave!
To see that Friend, and call him mine, Whose arm is strong to save!
Here fix, my soul! for life is here
Light breaks amid the gloom:
Trust in Jehovah's love, nor fear
The horrors of the tomb.
FAR from these narrow scenes of night,
Unbounded glories rise;
And realms of infinite delight,
Unknown to mortal eyes.
There pain and sickness never come,
No bosom heaves a sigh,
Health triumphs in immortal bloom,
And pure is every joy.
No cloud those blissful regions know,
For ever bright and fair;
For sin, that source of mortal woe,
Can never enter there.
There no alternate night is known,
Nor sun's uncertain ray :
But glory, from the eternal throne,
Spreads everlasting day.
Oh may this heavenly prospect fire
Our hearts with ardent love!
Till wings of faith and strong desire
Bear every thought above.
Adoption.-1 John iii. 1—5.
BEHOLD, what wondrous grace
The Father hath bestow'd
On creatures of a mortal race,
To call them sons of God!
Nor doth it yet appear
How great we must be made;
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