2 Amid ten thousand snares we stand,
Supported by his guardian hand;
And see, when we review our ways,
Ten thousand monuments of praise.
3 Thus far his arm hath led us on;
Thus far we make his mercy known;
And while we tread this desert land,
New mercies shall new songs demand.
4 Our grateful souls on Jordan's shore
Shall raise one sacred pillar more,
Then bear, in his bright courts above,
Inscriptions of immortal love.

Close of the Year.

DODDRIDGE.

1 AWAKE, ye saints, and raise your eyes,
And lift your voices high;
Awake, and praise that sovereign love
That shows salvation nigh.

2 On all the wings of time it flies;
Each moment brings it near:
Then welcome each declining day;
Welcome each closing year.

3 Not many years their rounds shall run,
Nor many mornings rise,

Ere all its glories stand revealed
To our admiring eyes.

4 Ye wheels of nature, speed your course;
Ye mortal powers, decay;

Fast as ye bring the night of death,
Ye bring eternal day.

1048.

C. M.

Close of the Year.

DODDRIDGE.

1 REMARK, my soul, the narrow bound
Of each revolving year;

How swift the weeks complete their round!
How short the months appear!

2 So fast eternity comes on,

And that important day

When all that mortal life hath done

God's judgment shall survey.

3 Yet like an idle tale we pass
The swift-revolving year,
And study artful ways t' increase
The speed of its career.

4 Awake, O God, my careless heart
Its great concerns to see,
That I may act the Christian part,
And give the year to thee.

5 So shall their course more grateful roll,
If future years arise;

Or this shall bear my waiting soul
To joy beyond the skies.

1049.

7s.

New Year's Day.

NEWTON.

1 WHILE, with ceaseless course, the sun Hasted through the former year,

Many souls their race have run,

Never more to meet us here:
Fixed in an eternal state,

They have done with all below:

We a little longer wait,

But how little none can know.

2 As the winged arrow flies,

Speedily the mark to find;
As the lightning from the skies
Darts, and leaves no trace behind;
Swiftly thus our fleeting days
Bear us down life's rapid stream:
Upward, Lord, our spirits raise;
All below is but a dream.

3 Thanks for mercies past receive;
Pardon of our sins renew;

Teach us, henceforth, how to live,
With eternity in view;

Bless thy word to old and young;
Fill us with a Saviour's love:
When our life's short race is run,
May we dwell with thee above.

--

1050.

5s & 12s.

C. WESLEY.

The new Year.

1 COME, let us anew
Our journey pursue ·

Roll round with the year,

And never stand still till the Master appear;
His adorable will

Let us gladly fulfil,

And our talents improve

By the patience of hope, and the labor of love.

2 Our life is a dream;
Our time, as a stream,
Glides swiftly away,

And the fugitive moment refuses to stay:
The arrow is flown;

The moment is gone;
The millennial year

Rushes on to our view, and eternity 's near.

3 0 that each, in the day

Of his coming, may say,

"I have fought my way through;

I have finished the work thou didst give me to do;"
O that each from his Lord
May receive the glad word,

"Well and faithfully done;

Enter into my joy, and sit down on my

throne."

1051.

L. M.

Doddridge.

A Song for the opening Year.

1 GREAT God, we sing that mighty hand,
By which supported still we stand:
The opening year thy mercy shows;
Let mercy crown it till it close.

2 By day, by night, at home, abroad,
Still we are guarded by our God;
By his incessant bounty fed,
By his unerring counsel led.

3 With grateful hearts the past we own;
The future-all to us unknown
We to thy guardian care commit,
And peaceful leave before thy feet.

4 In scenes exalted or depressed,
Be thou our joy, and thou our rest;
Thy goodness all our hopes shall raise,
Adored through all our changing days.

5 When death shall close our earthly songs,
And seal in silence mortal tongues,
Our Helper, God, in whom we trust,
In brighter worlds our souls shall boast.

1052.

C. M.

HEGINBOTHAM.

New Year. Providential Goodness.

1 GOD of our lives, thy various praise
Our voices shall resound:
Thy hand directs our fleeting days,
And brings the seasons round.

2 To thee shall grateful songs arise,
Our Father and our Friend,
Whose constant mercies from the skies
In genial streams descend.

3 In every scene of life, thy care,
In every age, we see;
And constant as thy favors are,
So let our praises be.

4 Still may thy love, in every scene,
In every age, appear;

And let the same compassion deign
To bless the opening year.

5 If mercy smile, let mercy bring
Our wandering souls to God:

In our affliction we shall sing,
If thou wilt bless the rod.

1053.

C. M.

NEWTON.

New Year. Prayer for a Blessing.

1 NOW, gracious Lord, thine arm reveal,
And make thy glory known;
Now let us all thy presence feel,
And soften hearts of stone.

2 From all the guilt of former sin
May mercy set us free;
And let the year we now begin
Begin and end with thee.

3 Send down thy Spirit from above,
That saints may love thee more,
And sinners now may learn to love,
Who never loved before.

4 And when before thee we appear,
In our eternal home,

May growing numbers worship here,
And praise thee in our room.

SHORTNESS OF TIME.

1054.

C. M.

Brevity and Frailty of Life.

1 HOW short and hasty is our life!
How vast our soul's affairs!
Yet foolish mortals vainly strive
To lavish out their years.

2 Our days run thoughtlessly along,
Without a moment's stay;

Just like a story, or a song,
We pass our lives away.

WATTS.

3 God from on high invites us home;
But we march heedless on,

And, ever hastening to the tomb,
Stoop downward as we run.

4 Draw us, O God, with sovereign grace,
And lift our thoughts on high,

That we may end this mortal race,
And see salvation nigh.