4 Then will I read and pray

While I have life and breath; Lest I should be cut off to-day, And sent to endless death.

295

1

Questions and Prayer.

C. M.

WHY should I love my sport so well,

So constant at my play;

And lose the thoughts of heaven and hell,
And then forget to pray?

2 What do I read my Bible for,
But, Lord, to learn thy will?
And shall I daily know thee more,
And less obey thee still?

3 How senseless is my heart, and wild,
How vain are all my thoughts!
Pity the folly of a child,

And pardon all my faults.

4 Make me thy heavenly voice to hear, And let me love to pray;

1

Since God will lend a gracious ear
To what a child can say.

WHEN I can read my title clear

To mansions in the skies,

I'll bid farewell to every fear,
And wipe my weeping eyes.

C. M

2 Should earth against my soul engage,
And fiery darts be hurled,

Then I can smile at Satan's rage,
And face a trowning world.

3 Let cares like a wild deluge come,
And storms of sorrow fall;
May I but safely reach my home,
My God, my heaven, my all.

4 There shall I bathe my weary soul
In seas of heavenly rest,

And not a wave of trouble roll
Across my peaceful breast.

297

Hope of Heaven.

P.M.

RISE, my soul, and stretch thy wings, Thy better portion trace;

Rise from transitory things

Towards heaven, thy native place;
Sun, and moon, and stars decay,

Time shall soon this earth remove;
Rise, my soul, and haste away
To seats prepared above.

2 Rivers to the ocean run,

Nor stay in all their course;
Fire, ascending, seeks the sun,
Both speed them to their source:
So the soul that's born of God
Pants to view his glorious face;
Upward tends to his abode,
To rest in his embrace.

3 Cease, ye pilgrims, cease to mourn;
Press onward to the prize;
Soon our Saviour will return,
Triumphant, in the skies:
Yet a season, and you know

Happy entrance will be given;

All our sorrows left below,

And earth exchanged for heaven.

298

ION

Jordan's stormy banks I stand,
And cast a wishful eye

To Canaan's fair and happy land,
Where my possessions lie.

20 the transporting, rapturous scene
That rises to my sight!

Sweet fields, arrayed in living green,
And rivers of delight!

3 On all those wide-extended plains
Shines one eternal day;

There God the Son for ever reigns,
And scatters night away.

4 No chilling winds, nor poisonous breath, Can reach that healthful shore;

Sickness and sorrow, pain and death.
Are felt and feared no more.

5 When shall I reach that happy place,
And be for ever blest?

When shall I see my Father's face,
And in his bosom, rest?

299 The Young in Heaven.

C. M.

WHAT souls are those that venture new

The throne of God to see?

Ten thousand happy ones, who here
Were children such as we!

2 Their sins the Saviour washed away,
He made them white and clean;
They loved his word, they loved his day;
They loved him though unseen.

3 Now under many a grassy mound
Their youthful bodies rest,

But safe their happy souls are found
Upon their Saviour's breast.

40 may we travel, as they trod,
The path that leads to heaven,
And seek forgiveness from that God
Who hath their sins forgiven.

5 Dear Saviour! hear our humble cry,
And our young hearts renew;
Then raise our ransomed souls on high,
That we may see thee too.

2

300 Who shall live in Heaven. S. M.

THERE is a land above

All beautiful and bright,

And those who love and seek the Lord
Rise to that world of light.

There sin is known no more,
Nor tears, nor want, nor care;

There good and happy beings dwell,
And all are holy there.

301

Heaven.

C. M.

THERE is a glorious world of light
Above the starry sky,

Where saints departed, clothed in white,
Adore the Lord most high.

2 And hark! amid the sacred songs
Those heavenly voices raise,

Ten thousand, thousand infant tongues Unite and sing his praise.

3 These are the hymns that we shall know If Jesus we obey;

That is the place where we shall go,
If found in wisdom's way.

302

1

THEM sun that lights the world shall fade,

The stars shall pass away;

And I, a child immortal made,
Shall witness their decay.

2 Yes, I shall live when they are dead,
Though now so bright they shine,
When earth and all it holds have fled,
Eternity is mine.

3 For I can never, never die,

While God himself remains;
But I must live in heaven on high,
Or where deep darkness reigns.

4 If heaven and hell ne'er pass away,
To Christ, O let me flee;

If pain be hard for one short day,
What must forever be!

303

1

The New Jerusalem.

JERUSALEM! mv happy home!

dear to me!

C. M..

When shall my labours have an end,
In joy, and peace, and thee?

20 when, thou city of my God,
Shall I thy courts ascend;
Where congregations ne'er break up,
And Sabbaths have no end?

3 There happier bowers than Eden's bloom Nor sin nor sorrow know:

Blest seats! through rude and stormy

scenes,

I onward press to you.