4 Just so, we by a glimpse discern
The glorious things within the veil ;
That, when in darkness, we may learn
To live by faith, till light prevail.

527.

C. M.

The Changes of Life.

1 THE evils that beset our path,
Who can prevent or cure?
We stand upon the brink of death
When most we seem secure.

J. NEWTON.

2 If we to-day sweet peace possess,
It soon may be withdrawn;
Some change may plunge us in distress.
Before to-morrow's dawn.

3 Disease and pain invade our health,
And find an easy prey;

And oft, when least expected, wealth
Takes wings and flies away.

4 The gourds from which we look for fruit,
Produce us often pain;

A worm unseen attacks the root,
And all our hopes are vain.

5 Since sin has filled the earth with woe,
And creatures fade and die;

Lord, wean our hearts from things below,
And fix our hopes on high!

528.

S. M.

DODDR D

"The Fathers, where are they?"

1 How swift the torrent rolls,

That bears us to the sea!

The tide that bears our thoughtless souls

To vast eternity!

2 Our fathers, where are they,
With all they called their own?
Their joys, and griefs, and hopes and cares,
And wealth and honor gone.

3 God of our fathers, hear,

Thou everlasting Friend!

While we, as on life's utmost verge,

Our souls to thee commend.

4 Of all the pious dead

529.

May we the footsteps trace,

Till with them, in the land of light,
We dwell before thy face.

1 MY FATHER! when around me spread
I see the shadows of the tomb,
And life's bright visions droop and fade,
And darkness veils my future doom;

2 O, in that anguished hour I turn
With a still trusting heart to thee,
And holy thoughts still shine and burn
Amid that cold, sad destiny.

3 The stars of heaven are shining on,

Though these frail eyes are dim with tears
The hopes of earth indeed are gone;
But are not ours the immortal years?

4 Father! forgive the heart that clings
Thus trembling to the joys of time;
And bid my soul on angel wings
Ascend into a purer clime.

530.

L. M.

DODDRIDGE.

To God pertain the issues of Life and Death.
1 SOVEREIGN of life! before thine eye.
Lo! mortal men by thousands die:
One glance from thee at once brings down
The proudest brow that wears a crown.
2 Banished at once from human sight
To the dark grave's mysterious night,
Imprisoned in that dusty bed,

We hide our solitary head.

3 Yet if my Father's faithful hand
Conduct me through this gloomy land,
My soul with pleasure shall obey,
And follow where he leads the way.

4 The friendly band again shall meet,
Again exchange the welcome sweet;
The dear familiar features trace,
And still renew the fond embrace.

Universal Warning of Death.

1 BENEATH Our feet and o'er our head
Is equal warning given :

Beneath us lie the countless dead,
Above us is the heaven!

2 Their names are graven on the stone,
Their bones are in the clay;

And ere another day is done,
Ourselves may be as they.

3 Our eyes have seen the rosy light
Of youth's soft cheek decay,
And fate descend in sudden night
On manhood's middle day.

HEA

4 Our

532.

eyes have seen the steps of age
Halt feebly towards the tomb;

And yet shall earth our hearts engage,
And dreams of days to come?

5 Death rides on every passing breeze,
He lurks in every flower;
Each season has its own disease
Its peril every hour.

L. M.

The Shortness of Life.

1 LIKE shadows gliding o'er the plain,
Or clouds that roll successive on,
Man's busy generations pass,

J. TAYLOR

And while we gaze their forms are gone.

2 "He lived,-he died;" behold the sum,
The abstract of the historian's page!
Alike, in God's all-seeing eye,

The infant's day, the patriarch's age.

3 O Father! in whose mighty hand
The boundless years and ages lie;
Teach us thy boon of life to prize,
And use the moments as they fly;

4 To crowd the narrow span of life

533.

With wise designs and virtuous deeds; And bid us wake from death's dark night, To share the glory that succeeds.

C. M.

Prayer for Support in Death

COLLYER

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.

534.

3 Lay thy supporting, gentle hand
Beneath my sinking head,
And let a beam of light divine
Illume my dying bed.

L. M.

Christ's Presence makes Death easy.

WATTS

1 WHY should we start and fear to die!
What timorous worms we mortals are !
Death is the gate of endless joy,

And yet we dread to enter there.

2 The pains, the groans, and dying strife,
Fright our approaching souls away;
Still we shrink back again to life,
Fond of our prison and our clay.

3 0! if my Lord would come and meet,
My soul should stretch her wings in haste,
Fly fearless through death's iron gate,
Nor feel the terrors as she past.

4 Jesus can make a dying bed

Feel soft as downy pillows are,
While on his breast I lean my head,
And breathe my life out sweetly there.

535.

L. M.

ANONYMOUS

Deliverance from the Fear of Death.

1 O GOD of love! with cheering ray,
Gild our expiring hour of day;

Thy love, through each revolving year,
Has wiped away affliction's tea