245

mp

1

Thy fearful doom, with vengeance fraught,
Will fill thee with surprise.

HOW

HYMN 245, C. M.

Frailty and Sin.

[OW short and hasty is our life!
How vast our soul's affairs!

Yet senseless 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.

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 How we deserve the deepest hell,
Who slight the joys above!

What chains of vengeance should we feel,
Who break such cords of love!

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

246

m

mp

mp

1

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

LE

HYMN 246, C. M.

Brevity of Life.

ET others boast how strong they be,
Nor death nor danger fear;

But we'll confess, O Lord! to thee,
What feeble things we are.

2 Fresh as the grass our bodies stand,
And flourish bright and gay;
A blasting wind sweeps o'er the land,
And fades the grass away.

3 Our life contains a thousand springs,
And dies, if one be gone;

Strange! that a harp of thousand strings.
Should keep in tune so long.

4 But 't is our God supports our frame,-
The God who built us first;

mf

Salvation to th' almighty Name,
That reared us from the dust.

247

mp

-

IV AV

1

HYMN 247, L. M.

The Road to Life, and to Death.

BROAD is the road that leads to death,

And thousands walk together there; But wisdom shows a narrow path,

With here and there a traveler.

2 "Deny thyself and take thy cross,"
Is the Redeemer's great command:
Nature must count her gold but dross,
If she would gain this heavenly land.
3 The fearful soul that tires and faints,
And walks the ways of God no more,
Is but esteemed almost a saint,

And makes his own destruction sure. aff 4 Lord! let not all my hopes be vain; Create my heart entirely new,

248

m

1

mp

mf

Which hypocrites could ne'er attain,
Which false apostates never knew.

HYMN 248, S. M.

Uncertainty of Life.

TO-MORROW, Lord! is thine,
Lodged in thy sovereign hand;
And, if its sun arise and shine,
It shines by thy command.

2 The present moment flies,

And bears our life away;
Oh! make thy servants truly wise,
That they may live to-day.

3 Since, on this fleeting hour,
Eternity is hung,

Awaken, by thy mighty power,
The aged and the young.

4 One thing demands our care;-
Be that one thing pursued;
Lest, slighted once, the season fair
Should never be renewed.

mf 5 To Jesus may we fly,

Swift as the morning light,

Ла

249 aff 1

p

p

Lest life's young golden beams should die,
In sudden, endless night.

MY

CONVICTION.

HYMN 249, S. M.

The Sinner arrested.

Y former hopes are fled,
My terror now begins;
My guilty soul, alas! is "dead
In trespasses and sins."

2 Ah! whither shall I fly ?

Where seek for mercy's door?
The law proclaims destruction nigh,
And justice armed with power.

8 When I review my ways,

I dread th' impending doom;

While yet some friendly whisper says,"Flee from the wrath to come!"

aff 4 Oh! that I now might see

p>

250

Some glimmering from afar,—
Some beam of hope to dawn on me,
And save me from despair.

HYMN 250, 7s and 68.

The Sinner disquieted.

af 1 WHY sinks my soul desponding,

Why fill my eyes with tears,

While nature all-surrounding
The smile of beauty wears?
Why, burdened now with sorrow,
Is every lab'ring thought?
Each vision that I borrow,

With gloom and sadness fraught?
2 The pleasures that deceived me
My soul no more can charm;
Of rest they oft bereaved me,
And filled me with alarm;
The objects, I have cherished,
Are empty as the wind;

My earthly joys have perished ;--
What comfort shall I find?

mf

8 If inward, still inquiring,
I turn my searching eye,
Or upward, now aspiring,
I raise my feeble cry,
No heavenly light is beaming,
To cheer my troubled breast,
No ray of comfort gleaming,
To give my spirit rest.

4 My soul! from this dread anguish,
Is there no refuge nigh?

251

m

& | &=

mp

2

mp

'T is guilt that makes thee languish,
And leaves thee thus to die:
Renounce thy sin and folly
Before the throne of grace;
And make the Lord, most holy,
Thy strength and righteousness.

HYMN 251, C. M.

Conviction by the Law.

1 LORD! how secure my conscience was,

And felt no inward dread!

I was alive without the law,

And thought my sins were dead.

2 My hopes of heaven were firm and bright;
But, since the precept came,

With a convincing power and light,
I find how vile I am.

3 My guilt appeared but small before,
Till terribly I saw-

How perfect, holy, just, and pure,
Is thine eternal law.

4 Then felt my soul the heavy load,
My sins revived again :-

I have provoked a dreadful God,
And all my hopes are slain.

5 My God! I cry, with every breath,
For some kind power to save,-
To break the yoke of sin and death,
And thus redeem the slave.

mf
252
SAY,

mp

1

HYMN 252, L. M.

The Strivings of the Spirit.

sinner! hath a voice within Oft whispered to thy secret soul,

<

Ла

Urged thee to leave the ways of sin,
And yield thy heart to God's control?
2 Sinner! it was a heavenly voice,—
It was the Spirit's gracious call;
It bade thee make the better choice,
And haste to seek in Christ thine all.
3 Spurn not the call to life and light;

Regard, in time, the warning kind;
That call thou may'st not always slight,
And yet the gate of mercy find.
4 God's Spirit will not always strive
With hardened, self-destroying man;
Ye, who persist his love to grieve,
May never hear his voice again.
5 Sinner! perhaps, this very day,
Thy last accepted time may be:
Oh! should'st thou grieve him now away,
Then hope may never beam on thee.

253

mp

m

1

A

HYMN 253, S. M.

Man condemned before God.

H! how shall fallen man
Be just before his God?
If he contend in righteousness,
We fall beneath his rod.

2 If he our ways should mark,
With strict inquiring eyes,
Could we, for one of thousand faults,
A just excuse devise?

3 All-seeing, powerful God!

Who can with thee contend?

Or who, that tries th' unequal strife,
Shall prosper in the end?

mf 4 The mountains, in thy wrath,
Their ancient seats forsake;

Ρ

VɅ

The trembling earth deserts her place,

Her rooted pillars shake.

5 Ah! how shall guilty man

Contend with such a God?

None-none can meet him, and escape,

But through the Saviour's blood.