I trample on their whole delight,
And seek a city out of sight,
A city in the skies.
7 There is my house and portion fair;
My treasure and my heart are there,
And my abiding home;
For me my elder brethren stay,
And angels beckon me away,
And Jesus bids me come!
8 I come, thy servant, Lord, replies;
I come to meet thee in the skies,
And claim my heavenly rest!
Now let the pilgrim's journey end;
Now, O my Saviour, Brother, Friend,
Receive me to thy breast!
Holstein-p. 171.] HYMN 549. 8 lines 8s
TILL out of the deepest abyss
Of trouble, I mournfully cry:
And pine to recover my peace,
And see my Redeemer and die.
I cannot, I cannot forbear,
These passionate longings for home,
O! when shall my spirit be there;
O! when will the messenger come.
2 Thy nature I long to put on,
Thine image on earth to regain;
And then in the grave to lay down
This burden of body and pain.
O Jesus, in pity draw near,
And lull me to sleep on thy breast,
Appear, to my rescue appear,
And gather me into thy rest!
3 To take a poor fugitive in,
The arms of thy mercy display,
And give me to rest from all sin,
And bear me triumphant away;
Away from a world of distress,
Away to the mansions above;
The heaven of seeing thy face-
The heaven of feeling thy love.
Abridge-p. 42.] HYMN 550. C. M.
HEE we adore, Eternal Name!
And humbly own to thee,
How feeble is our mortal frame,
What dying worms we be !
2 Our wasting lives grow shorter still,
As days and months increase :
And every beating pulse we tell,
Leaves but the number less.
3 The year rolls round, and steals away
The breath that first it gave:
Whate'er we do, where'er we be,
We're travelling to the grave.
4 Dangers stand thick through all the ground,
To push us to the tomb;
And fierce diseases wait around,
To hurry mortals home.
5 Great God! on what a slender thread
Hang everlasting things!
The' eternal states of all the dead
Upon life's feeble strings.
6 Infinite joy, or endless wo,
Attends on every breath;
And yet how unconcern'd we go
Upon the brink of death!
7 Waken, O Lord, our drowsy sense
To walk this dangerous road;
And if our souls are hurried hence,
May they be found with God!
Egypt-p. 87.] HYMN 551. S. M.
ND am I born to die?
To lay this body down?
And must my trembling spirit fly
Into a world unknown?
A land of deepest shade,
Unpierc'd by human thought;
The dreary regions of the dead,
Where all things are forgot!
2 Soon as from earth I go,
What will become of me?
Eternal happiness or wo,
Must then my portion be:
Wak'd by the trumpet's sound,
I from my grave shall rise,
And see the Judge with glory crown'd
And see the flaming skies!
3 How shall I leave my tomb?
With triumph or regret?
A fearful, or a joyful doom,
A curse, or blessing meet?
Will angel bands convey
Their brother to the bar?
Or devils drag my soul away,
To meet its sentence there?
4 Who can resolve the doubt,
That tears my anxious breast?
Shall I be with the damn'd cast out,
Or number'd with the blest?
I must from God be driven,
Or with my Saviour dwell;
Must come at his command to heaven,
Or else depart to hell.
O THOU that wouldst not have
One wretched sinner die ;
Who diedst thyself, my soul to save
From endless misery!
Show me the way to shun
Thy dreadful wrath severe;
That when thou comest on thy throne,
may with joy appear.
2 Thou art thyself the Way,
Thyself in me reveal ;
So shall I spend my life's short day
Obedient to thy will:
So shall I love my God,
Because he first lov'd me;
And praise thee in thy bright abode,
To all eternity.
Kennebeck-p. 138.] HYMN 552. 4 8s & 2 6s.
And must I suddenly comply
ND am I only born to die?
With nature's stern decree?
What after death for me remains?
Celestial joys, or hellish pains,
To all eternity!
2 How then ought I on earth
While God prolongs the kind reprieve,
And props the house of clay:
My sole concern, my single care,
To watch, and tremble, and prepare
Against that fatal day!
3 No room for mirth or trifling here
For worldly hope, or worldly fear,
If life so soon is gone;
If now the Judge is at the door,
And all mankind must stand before
The' inexorable throne!
4 No matter which my thoughts employ, A moment's misery or joy;
But O! when both shall end, Where shall I find my destin'd place? Shall I my everlasting days,
With fiends or angels spend?
5 Nothing is worth a thought beneath,
But how I may escape the death
That never, never dies!
How make mine own election sure;
And when I fail on earth, secure
A mansion in the skies.
6 Jesus, vouchsafe a pitying ray,
Be thou my Guide, be thou my Way
To glorious happiness!
Ah! write the pardon on my heart!
And whensoe'er I hence depart,
Let me depart in peace!
Axbridge-p. 17.] HYMN 553. C. M.
God! our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come, Our shelter from the stormy blast, And our eternal home:
2 Under the shadow of thy throne, Still may we dwell secure ; Sufficient is thine arm alone,
And our defence is sure.
3 Before the hills in order stood, Or earth receiv'd her frame,
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