4.
O Father, in whose mighty hand
The boundless years and ages lie,
Teach us thy boon of life to prize
And use the moments as they fly;
To crowd the narrow span of life
With wise designs and virtuous deeds;
So shall we wake from death's dark night
To share the glory that succeeds.
[Be ye ready: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not. Luke xii. 40.]
HASTEN, sinner, to be wise,
Stay not for the morrow's sun,
Lest, if wisdom thou despise,
She may never more be won.
Hasten mercy to implore,
Stay not for the morrow's sun,
Lest thy season should be o'er
Ere this evening's course is run.
Hasten, sinner, to return,
Stay not for the morrow's sun,
Lest thy lamp should fail to burn
Ere salvation's work is done.
Hasten, sinner, to be blest,
Stay not for the morrow's sun,
Lest perdition thee arrest
Ere the morrow is begun.
The vanity of sublunary glory.
O LET the soul its slumber break,
Arouse its senses and awake
Ere life be gone:
Soon shall its glories fade away,
And the stern footsteps of decay
Come stealing on.
Our birth is but the starting-place;
Life is the running of the race,
And death the goal:
There all our steps at last are brought;
That path alone, of all unsought,
Is found of all.
Our lives like hasting streams must be,
That into one ingulfing sea
Are doom'd to fall;
The sea of death, whose waves roll on
O'er king and kingdom, crown and throne,
And swallow all.
Say then, how poor and little worth
Are all these glittering toys of earth
That lure us here;
Dreams, of a sleep that death must break:
Alas! before it bids us wake
The first four stanzas of this Hymn are from the Spanish of Manrique.
And let the pageant be withdrawn !
To death's dark night succeeds a dawn
Of brighter day;
Faith points to bliss beyond the tomb,
The Christian's hope, the Christian's home,
And leads the way.
Meditation on the rapid flight of time.
ANOTHER fleeting day is gone,
Slow o'er the west the shadows rise;
Swift the soft-stealing hours have flown,
And night's dark mantle veils the skies.
Another fleeting day is gone,
Swept from the records of the year;
And still, with each successive sun,
Life's fading visions disappear.
Another fleeting day is gone,
To join the fugitives before;
And I, when life's employ is done,
Shall sleep, to wake in time no more.
Another fleeting day is gone,
But soon a fairer day shall rise,
A day whose never-setting sun
Shall pour his light o'er cloudless skies.
Another fleeting day is gone,
In solemn silence rest, my soul;
Bow down before his awful throne
Who bids the morn and evening roll.
God our guardian in life and in death.
IN sleep's serene oblivion laid,
I safely pass'd the silent night;
Again I see the breaking shade,
Again behold the morning light.
New born, I bless the waking hour
Once more with awe rejoice to be;
My conscious soul resumes her power,
And springs, my guardian God, to thee.
O guide me through the various maze My doubtful feet are doom'd to tread; And spread thy shield's protecting blaze Where dangers press around my head.
A deeper shade shall soon impend,
A deeper sleep mine eyes oppress;
Yet then thy strength shall still defend,
Thy goodness still delight to bless.
That deeper shade shall break away,
That deeper sleep shall leave mine eyes;
Thy light shall give eternal day;
Thy love, the rapture of the, skies.
[Lord thou hast been our dwelling-place. Psalm xc.]
O THOU, the first, the greatest friend
Of all the human race,
Whose strong right hand has ever been
Their stay and dwelling-place!
Before the mountains heaved their heads
Beneath thy forming hand,
Before this ponderous globe itself
Arose at thy command;
That power which raised and still upholds
This universal frame,
From countless unbeginning time
Was ever still the same.
Thou giv'st the word-thy creature man
Is to existence brought;
Again, thou say'st-"Ye sons of men,
Return ye into nought."
Thou layest them with all their cares
In everlasting sleep;
As with a flood thou tak'st them off
With overwhelming sweep.
They flourish like the morning flow
In beauty's pride array'd;
But long ere night cut down it lies
All wither'd and decay'd.
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