5 On wings of faith to heaven ascend,
By hope anticipate the feast ;
With all thy might still upward tend,
And leave to sensual minds the rest.
1 WHEREFORE should man, frail child of clay,
Who, from the cradle to the shroud,
Lives but the insect of a day-
O why should mortal man be proud?
2 His brightest visions just appear,
Then vanish and no more are found;
The stateliest pile his pride can rear,
A breath can level with the ground.
3. By doubt perplexed, in error lost,
With trembling step he seeks his way.
How vain, of wisdom's gift the boast!
Of reason's lamp, how faint the ray!
4 Follies and sins, a countless sum,
Are crowded in life's little span :
How ill, alas! does pride become
That erring, guilty creature, man!
5 God of my life! Father divine!
Give me a meek and lowly mind:
In modest worth, O let me shine,
And peace in humble virtue find.
Communing with our Hearts. Ps. iv. 4.
1 RETURN, my roving heart, return,
And chase these shadowy forms no more ;
Seek out some solitude to mourn,
And thy forsaken God implore.
2 Wisdom and pleasure dwell at home; Retired and silent seek them there; This is the way to overcome,
The way to break temptation's snare.
3 And thou, my God! whose piercing eye
Distinct surveys each deep recess,
In these abstracted hours draw nigh,
And with thy presence fill the place.
4 Through all the mazes of my heart,
My search let heavenly wisdom guide;
And still its radiant beams impart,
Till all be searched and purified.
5 Then, with the visits of thy love,
Vouchsafe my inmost soul to cheer;
Till every grace shall join to prove,
That God hath fixed his dwelling there.
Religious Retirement.
1 FAR from the world, O Lord! I flee,
From strife and tumult far;
From scenes, where sin is waging still
Its most successful war.
2 The calm retreat, the silent shade,
With prayer and praise agree;
And seem by thy sweet bounty made
For those who follow thee.
3 There, if thy spirit touch the soul,
And grace her mean abode ;
O with what peace, and joy, and love,
Does she commune with God!
There, like the nightingale, she pours
Her solitary lays;
Nor asks a witness of her song,
Nor thirsts for human praise.
5 Author and Guardian of my life,
Sweet source of light divine;
And all harmonious names in one,
My Father-thou art mine!
6 What thanks I owe thee, and what love,
A boundless, endless store,
Shall echo through the realms above,
When time shall be no more.
208. L. M.
Retirement and Meditation.
1 My God! permit me not to be
A stranger to myself and thee:
Amid a thousand thoughts I rove,
Forgetful of my highest love.
2 Why should my passions mix with earth,
And thus debase my heavenly birth?
Why should I cleave to things below,
And let my God, my Saviour, go
?
3 Call me away from flesh and sense;
Thy gracious word can draw me thence;
I would obey the voice divine,
And all inferior joys resign.
Be earth with all her scenes withdrawn ;
Let noise and vanity be gone;
In secret silence of the mind,
My heaven, and there my God, I find.
A Conversation becoming the Gospel. Titus ii. 10.
1 So let our lips and lives express
The holy gospel we profess,
So let our works and virtues shine,
To prove the doctrine all divine.
2 Thus shall we best proclaim abroad,
The honours of our Saviour God,
When the salvation reigns within,
And grace subdues the power of sin.
3 Our flesh and sense must be denied,
Passion and envy, lust and pride,
While justice, temperance, truth and love,
Our inward piety approve.
4 What though we drink of sorrow's cup ?— Religion bears our spirits up,
Hope waits the coming of the Lord,
And faith stands leaning on his word.
Unfruitfulness under Gospel Privileges.
10 GOD! thy gracious aid impart
To bend our wills to thine;
Melt our whole souls, and let them flow,
And take the mould divine.
2 The gracious truths which Jesus brought,
Our ears have often heard!
Yet still how weak our faith is found,
And knowledge of thy word.
3 How cold and feeble is our love!
How negligent our fear!
How low our hope of joys above!
How few affections there!
4 O deep impress that perfect law,
Which noblest freedom gives :
And let it all our souls refine,
And sanctify our lives :
5 Not with a transient glance surveyed,
And in an hour forgot,
But deep inscribed on every heart,
To reign o'er every thought.
6 Teach our forgetful feet the way
That leads to joys above;
Devotion then shall fire the breast,
And the whole soul be love.
Personal and prevailing Sins lamented and deprecated. Ps. cxli.
1 My God! what inward grief I feel,
When impious men transgress thy will;
My ears are pained, when lips profane
Take thy tremendous name in vain.
2 O let my soul indignant hate
The arts of malice and deceit ;
And far from their communion flee,
Who dare revile thy laws and thee.
3 Let pious friendship, when I stray,
Mark and reprove my wandering way!
Its gentle words, from hearts as kind,
Shall comfort, while they heal, the mind.
4 THOU, who discernest all my heart,
And all my life in every part,
Unseal my partial eyes to see
What guilt in either there may be.
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