While sinners who grow old in sin,
Are hardened in their crimes.
4 It saves us from a thousand fears,
To mind religion young
With joy it crowns succeeding years,
And renders virtue strong.
5 To thee, almighty God! to thee
Our hearts we now resign;
'Twill please us to look back and see
That our whole lives were thine.
6 We'll do thy work, we'll speak thy praise,
Whilst we have life and breath;
Thus we're prepared for longer days,
Or fit for early death.
'Remember thy Creator."
1 IN life's gay morn, when sprightly youth With generous ardor glows,
And shines in all the fairest charms
That beauty can disclose, -
2 Deep on thy soul- before its powers
Are yet by vice enslaved -
Be thy Creator's lofty name
And character engraved.
3 For soon the shades of grief may cloud The sunshine of thy days;
And cares and woes, an endless round,
Encompass all thy ways.
4 Soon may thy heart the woes of age
In mournful groans deplore,
And sadly muse on former joys,
That now return no more,
5 True wisdom, early sought and gained,
In age will give thee rest;
O, then, improve the morn of life,
To make its evening blest!
"Forgive, and thou shalt be forgiven.'
1 O GOD! my sins are manifold,
Against my life they cry,
And all my guilty deeds foregone,
Up to thy temple fly;
Wilt thou release my trembling soul,
That to despair is driven?
'Forgive!' a blessed voice replied,
And thou shalt be forgiven!'
2 My foemen, Lord, are fierce and fell,
They spurn me in their pride,
They render evil for my good,
My patience they deride;
Arise, O King, and be the proud
To righteous ruin driven!
'Forgive!' an awful answer came,
'As thou wouldst be forgiven!"
3 Seven times, O Lord, I pardoned them,
Seven times they sinned again;
They practise still to work me woe,
They triumph in my pain;
But let them dread my vengeance now,
To just resentment driven!
'Forgive!' the voice of thunder spake,
'Or be not thou forgiven!'
'Why stand ye idle here?'
1 THE God of glory walks his round, From day to day, from year to year; And warns us each, with awful sound, 'No longer stand ye idle here!
2 'Ye whose young cheeks are rosy-bright, Whose hands are strong, whose hearts are clear, Waste not of hope the morning light! Ah, fools, why stand ye idle here? 30, if the griefs you would assuage That wait on life's declining year,Secure a blessing for your age, And work your Maker's business here! 4 'And ye, whose locks of scanty gray Foretell your latest travail near,How swiftly fades your worthless day! And stand ye yet so idle here?' 5 O Thou, by all thy works adored, To whom the sinner's soul is dear, Recall us to thy vineyard, Lord, And grant us grace to please thee here!
1 COME, fellow-sinners, come away;
Behold the fast-declining sun;
No longer in the market stay;
"Tis time our labors were begun.
2 O be not faithless in the Lord:
Whate'er is right we shall receive;
If we but hearken to his word,
He will immortal treasures give.
3 Lord, in thy vineyard we appear,
To labor in the works of love;
O may we be thy mercy's care,
Nor from thy precepts ever rove.
4 And when thy laborers all come home,
May each, with joy, thy goodness see;
Nor fault what boundless grace has done,
In setting man from bondage free.
God appearing in terrible Judgments.
1 THE mighty God from Teman came The Holy One from Paran hill;
His glory shone through heaven in flame,
And all the earth his name did fill.
2 Before his feet, -a baleful light,
The pestilence went forth in wrath:-
The nations sickened at the sight,
And their hosts perished from its path.
3 He stood, and as his eye surveyed
The quaking earth and heaving main,
The hills bowed down, the mountains fled,
The streams rolled backward through the plain;
4 Th' o'erflowing deep, by thunder riven,
Came rushing where the land had been;
The sun and moon stood still in heaven,
And turned to sackcloth o'er the scene.
5 I saw,
and terror struck me dumb;
My joints dissolved, my senses froze;
I saw the God of judgment come
To cheer his saints, and crush their foes.
1 FALLEN is thy throne, O Israel!
Silence is o'er thy plains;
Thy dwellings all lie desolate,
Thy children weep in chains!
Where are the dews that fed thee
On Elim's barren shore ?-
That fire from heaven, which led thee,
Now lights thy path no more.
2 Lord, thou didst love Jerusalem, —
Once, she was all thine own;
Her love thy fairest heritage,-
Her power, thy glory's throne;
Till evil came, and blighted
Thy long-loved olive-tree,
And Salem's shrines were lighted
To other gods than thee.
3 Then sunk the star of Solyma;
Then passed her glory's ray,
Like heath, that in the wilderness
The wild wind whirls away.
Silent and waste her bowers,
Where once the mighty trod;
And sunk those guilty towers
Where Baal reigned as god.
1 DAUGHTER of Zion, from the dust
Exalt thy fallen head;
Again in thy Redeemer trust,-
He calls thee from the dead.
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