2 So may our thoughts ascend to God, Ponder with love the sacred page, 3 'Midst hourly cares may love present And while the world our hands employs, our hearts be his alone. 4 In painful duties, days of grief, We still will in the Lord be strong, 5 Each night we'll lean our weary heads 6 A life like this is heaven on earth; Nor shall I then impatient wish, 26. ECCL. ii. 11. 1 OFT in vain the voice of truth Doth, in solemn accents, warn; Life prolong'd to distant years; Fill'd with sweets and joys appears. 2 Awful disappointment soon Overclouds the prospect gay, 3 Others who are spar'd a while, Live to weep o'er fancy's cheat 4 God alone can cure our ills, Sweeten life with all its cares, Save us from surrounding snares 27. ECCLES. vii. 2-6. 1 WHILE others crowd the house of mirth, and haunt the gaudy show, Let such as would with wisdom dwell, frequent the house of woe. When virtuous sorrow clouds the face, and tears bedim the eye; The soul is led to solemn thought, and wafted to the sky. 3 A constant round of giddy mirth, Unfits the soul for nobler thoughts, 28. ECCLES. ix. 4—10. 1 As long as life its term extends, 2 Life is the season God hath given, 3 In that great state to which we haste, 4 Then what our thoughts design to do, D 29. ISAIAH i. 10-19. 1 RULERS of Sodom! hear the voice, of heaven's eternal Lord; Men of Gomorrah! bend your ear submissive to his word: 2 Your prayers, your fasts, your rites I scorn, and pomp of solemn days; 3 I know your hearts are full of guile, and crooked are your ways. 8 Cleanse ye from sin ye guilty race, and keep my holy laws; Learn in your actions to be just, 4 External honours mock my name, 5 But come with true and willing minds, Your guilty souls shall, through my grace, with snow in whiteness vie. 30. ISAIAH ii. 2-6. 1 THE beam that shines from Zion hill, shall lighten ev'ry land; The king who reigns in Salem's tow'rs, 2 Among the nations he shall judge, his judgments truth shall guide; His sceptre shall protect the just, and quell the sinner's pride. 3 No strife shall rage, nor hostile feuds, disturb those peaceful years; To plough-shares men shall beat their swords, to pruning-hooks their spears. 4 No longer hosts encount'ring hosts, shall crowds of slain deplore; They hang the trumpet in the hall, and study war no more. 5 Come then, O house of Jacob! come And, walking in the light of God, 31. ISAIAH ix. 2-8. 1 THE race that long in darkness pin'd, have seen a glorious light; 2 To hail thy rise, thou better Sun! the harvest-treasures home. 3 To us a Child of hope is born; to us a Son is giv'n; Him shall the tribes of earth obey, him, all the hosts of heav'n. |