God's Eternity and Man's Frailty.

1 THROUGH every age, eternal God, Thou art our rest, our safe abode :

WATTS.

High was thy throne e'er heaven was made,
Or earth, thy humble footstool, laid.

2 Long hadst thou reigned ere time began,
Or dust was fashioned into man;

And long thy kingdom shall endure,
When earth and time shall be no more.

3 But man, weak man, is born to die,
Made up of guilt and vanity:
Thy dreadful sentence, Lord, is just
Return, ye sinners, to your dust."

66

4 Death, like an ever-flowing stream,
Sweeps us away: our life's a dream-
An empty tale a morning flower
Cut down and withered in an hour.

5 Teach us, O Lord, how frail is man,
And kindly lengthen out our span,
Till, cleansed by grace, we all may be
Prepared to die, and dwell with thee.

1074.

C. M.

COLLYER.

Prayer for Support in Death.

1 WHEN, bending o'er the brink of life,
My trembling soul shall stand,
And wait to pass death's awful flood,
Great God, at thy command,

2 Thou Source of life and joy supreme,
Whose arm alone can save,
Dispel the darkness that surrounds
The entrance to the grave.

3 Lay thy supporting, gentle hand
Beneath my sinking head,

And let a beam of life divine
Illume my dying bed.

1075.

C. M.

God's Presence makes Death easy.

WATTS.

1 DEATH cannot make our souls afraid,
If God be with us there;

We may walk through its darkest shade,
And never yield to fear.

2 I could renounce my all below,
If my Redeemer bid;

And run,

if I were called to go,

And die, as Moses did.

3 Might I but climb to Pisgah's top,
And view the promised land,
My flesh itself would long to drop,
And welcome the command.

4 Clasped in my heavenly Father's arms,
I would forget my breath,

And lose my life among the charms
Of so divine a death.

Victory over Death.

1 O FOR an overcoming faith,
To cheer my dying hours,

To triumph o'er the monster Death,
And all his frightful powers!

WATTS.

2 Joyful, with all the strength I have,
My quivering lips should sing -
"Where is thy boasted victory, Grave ?
And where, O Death, thy sting?

3 If sin be pardoned, I'm secure;
Death has no sting beside:

The law gives sin its damning power;
But Christ, my ransom, died.

4 Now to the God of victory

Immortal thanks be paid,

Who makes us conquerors, while we die,
Through Christ, our living Head.

Preparation for Death.

1 IF I must die, O, let me die With hope in Jesus' blood

BEDDOME.

The blood that saves from sin and guilt,
And reconciles to God.

2 If I must die, O, let me die

In peace with all mankind,
And change these fleeting joys below
For pleasures more refined.

3 If I must die, — and die I must,
Let some kind seraph come,
And bear me on his friendly wing
To my celestial home.

4 Of Canaan's land, from Pisgah's top,
May I but have a view,

Though Jordan should o'erflow its banks,
I'll boldly venture through.

1078.

L. M.

WATTS.

Death and Burial of a Christian.

1 UNVEIL thy bosom, faithful tomb;
Take this new treasure to thy trust,
And give these sacred relics room,
To slumber in the silent dust.

2 Nor pain, nor grief, nor anxious fear,
Invades thy bounds; no mortal woes
Can reach the peaceful sleeper here,
While angels watch the soft repose.

3 So Jesus slept; God's dying Son

Passed through the grave, and blest the bed: Rest here, blest saint, till from his throne The morning break, and pierce the shade. 4 Break from his throne, illustrious morn; Attend, O earth, his sovereign word; Restore thy trust; a glorious form Shall then arise to meet the Lord.

1079.

C. M.

Meditation on the Tomb.

WATTS.

1 HARK! from the tombs a warning sound; My ears, attend the cry

"Ye living men, come view the ground
Where you must shortly lie.

2 "Princes, this clay must be your bed,
In spite of all your towers;

The tall, the wise, the reverend head,
Must lie as low as ours."

3 Great God, is this our certain doom?
And are we still secure?

Still walking downward to the tomb,
And yet prepare no more?

4 Grant us the power of quickening grace,
To fit our souls to fly;

Then, when we drop this dying flesh,
We'll rise above the sky.

1080.

P. M.

РОРЕ.

The dying Christian to his Soul.
1 VITAL spark of heavenly flame,
Quit, O, quit this mortal frame:
Trembling, hoping, lingering, flying,
O, the pain, the bliss, of dying!
Cease, fond nature, cease thy strife,
And let me languish into life.

2 Hark! they whisper; angels say,
"Sister spirit, come away:
What is this absorbs me quite?
Steals my senses, shuts my sight,
Drowns my spirits, draws my breath?
Tell me, my soul, can this be death?
3 The world recedes; it disappears;
Heaven opens on my eyes; my ears
With sounds seraphic ring:

Lend, lend your wings! I mount! I fly!
"O Grave, where is thy victory?
O Death, where is thy sting?"

1081.

C. M.

A Warning from the Grave.

HEBER.

1 BENEATH our feet and o'er our head

Is equal warning given:

Beneath us lie the countless dead,
And far above is heaven.

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

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

3 Turn, sinner, turn: thy danger know:
Where'er thy foot can tread,

The earth rings hollow from below,
And warns thee of her dead.

4 Turn, Christian, turn: thy soul apply
To truths which hourly tell

That they who underneath thee lie
Shall live in heaven

1082.

or hell.

Death and Judgment appointed to All.

1 HEAVEN has confirmed the dread decree, That Adam's race must die:

One general ruin sweeps them down,
And low in dust they lie.

2 Ye living men, the tomb survey,
Where you must shortly dwell;
Hark! how the awful summons sounds,
In every funeral knell!

3 Once you must die, and once for all;
The solemn purport weigh;

For know that heaven or hell depends
On that important day.

4 Those eyes, so long in darkness veiled,
Must wake, the Judge to see;
And every word, and every thought,
Must pass his scrutiny.

5 0, may I in the Judge behold
My Saviour and my Friend,

And, far beyond the reach of death,
With all his saints ascend.