Be this, through all my following days,
My treasure and my joy.

594

The Sabbath-School.

1 Above the starry sky,

HERE is a glorious world of light,

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 in perfect praise.

3 Those 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.

4 This is the joy we ought to seek,
And make cur chief concern;

For this we come from week to week,
To read, and hear, and learn.
5 Soon will our earthly race be run,
Our mortal frame decay;

Children and teachers, one by one,
Must die and pass away.

6 Great God, impress the serious thought,
This day, on every breast;

That both the teachers and the taught
May enter to thy rest.

595

1

HOS

Blessing implored.

Fawcett.

C. M.

Jane Taylor.

OSANNAS by an infant train
Were once within the temple sung,
While Jesus listened to the strain,

And poured his blessing on the throng
2 Lord, may thy Spirit seal the truth.
On every heart, with power divine;
Renew and sanctify these youth,

And make these children wholly thine.
3 May we our humble voices raise
Responsive to the heavenly host,
In strains of everlasting praise
To Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

L. M.

B. H. P. (orig.)

596

1

Sabbath-School Hymn.

LORD, our God, thy light and truth
To us thy children send,

That we may serve thee in our youth,

And love thee to the end.

2 By nature sinful, weak, and blind,
The downward path we trod,

Our wand'ring heart and wayward mind
Were enemies to God.

C. M.

2 But friends and guardians now, through grace, Our heedless steps restrain;

They teach us, Lord, to seek thy face,

Which none shall seek in vain.

4 Hence to the hills we lift our eyes,
From which salvation springs:
O Sun of Righteousness, arise,
With healing in thy wings.

597

1

THO

Sabbath-School Hymn.

Montgomery.

C. M.

HOU art our Shepherd, glorious God;
Thy little flock behold,

And guide us by thy staff and rod

The children of thy fold.

2 We praise thy name that we were brought To this delightful place,

Where we are watched, and warned, and taught, The children of thy grace.

3 Oh may our friends and teachers here

Meet all our souls above,

And they and we in heaven appear—
The children of thy love.

598

1

The Sabbath-School Teacher.

Montgomery.

C. M.

LESS'D work, the youthful mind to win,
And turn the rising race

From the deceitful paths of sin,

To seek redeeming grace!

2 Children our kind protection claim;
And God will well approve,

When infants learn to lisp his name,
And their Redeemer love.

3 Be ours the bliss in wisdom's way
To guide untutored youth,

And show the mind which went astray,
The way, the life, the truth.

4 Thy Spirit, Father, on us shed,
And bless this good design;

The honors of thy name be spread,
And all the glory thine.

Straphan.

Beneath us lie the countless dead,

Above us is the heaven.

2 Death rides on every passing breeze,
And lurks in every flower;

Each season has its own disease,
Its peril every hour.

3 Our eyes have seen the rosy light
Of youth's soft cheek decay,
And fate descend in sudden night
On manhood's middle day.

4 Our eyes have seen the steps of age
Halt feebly to the tomb;

And yet shall earth our hearts engage,
And dreams of days to come?

5 Turn, mortal, turn; thy danger know;
Where'er thy foot can tread,
The earth rings hollow from below,
And warns thee of her dead.

6 Turn, Christian, turn; thy soul apply
To truths divinely given:

The forms which underneath thee lie
Shall live, for hell or heaven.

Heber.

600

1

2

TIME

Time fleeting.

IME is winging us away
To our eternal home;

Life is but a winter's day,

A journey to the tomb:
Youth and vigor soon will flee,
Blooming beauty lose its charms;
All that's mortal soon will be
Enclosed in death's cold arms.

Time is winging us away

To our eternal home;

Life is but a winter's day

A journey to the tomb:
But the Christian shall enjoy
Health and beauty soon above;
Far beyond the world's alloy,
Secure in Jesus' love.

7.6.

Burton.

601

1

MY

Thoughts of Death.

Y soul, come, meditate the day,
And think how near it stands,
When thou must quit this house of clay,
And fly to unknown lands.

2 And you, my eyes, look down and view
The hollow gaping tomb;
This gloomy prison waits for you,
Whene'er the summons come.

3 Oh, could we die with those that die,
And place us in their stead,
Then would our spirits learn to fly,
And converse with the dead.

4 Then should we see the saints above,
In their own glorious forms,
And wonder why our souls should love
To dwell with mortal worms.

5 We should almost forsake our clay
Before the summons come,
And pray, and wish our souls away
To their eternal home.

C. M.

Watts.

602

1 I

11s.

"I would not live alway." Job vii. 16. WOULD not live alway; I ask not to stay Where storm after storm rises dark o'er the way:

The few fleeting mornings that dawn on us here Are enough for life's sorrows-enough for its cheer.

2 I would not live alway; no, welcome the tomb;
Since Jesus hath lain there, I dread not its gloom;
There sweet be my rest, till he bid me arise,
To hail him in triumph descending the skies.

3 Who, who would live alway, away from his God, Away from yon heaven, that blissful abode,

Where rivers of pleasure flow o'er the bright plains,

And the noontide of glory eternally reigns?

4 Where the saints of all ages in harmony meet,
Their Saviour and brethren transported to greet;
While anthems of rapture unceasingly roll,
And the smile of the Lord is the feast of the soul.
Muhlenburg.

603

1

Frail Life, and succeeding Eternity.
HEE we adore, eternal Name,
And humbly own to thee

THEE

How feeble is our mortal frame,

What dying worms are we.

2 The year rolls round, and steals away
The breath that first it gave;
Whate'er we do, where'er we be,
We're travelling to the grave.

3 Dangers stand thick through all the ground,
To push us to the tomb;

And fierce diseases wait around,
To hurry mortals home.

4 Great God, on what a slender thread
Hang everlasting things!
Th' eternal state of all the dead
Upon life's feeble strings.

5 Infinite joy or endless wo

Attends on every breath;

C. M.