Soon shall you hear the Bridegroom's voice,

To call you to your home.
5 The time is short! it swiftly flies

The hour is just at hand,
When we shall mount above the skies,

And reach the wish’d-for land.
6 The time is short!--the moment ncar,

When we shall dwell above; And be for ever happy there,

With Jesus, whom we love. DANGER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT'S WITHDRAWING

HIS INFLUENCE.

L. M. 228.

The returning Backsider. 1 STAY, thou insulted Spirit, stay,

Though I have done thee such despite; Nor cast the sinner quite away,

Nor take thine everlasting Hight. 2 Though I have steeld my stubborn heart,

And oft shook off my guilty fears; And vex'd and urg'd thee to depart,

For many long rebellious years; 3 Though I have most unfaithful been

Of all who e'er thy grace receiv'd; Ten thousand times thy goodness seen;

Ten thousand times thy goodness griev'd; A Yet O! the chief of sinners spare

In honour of my great High-Priest: Nor in thy righteous anger swear,

T'exclude me from thy people's rest. 5 This only wo I deprecate,

This only plague I pray remove, Nor leave me in my lost estate,

Nor curse me with this want of love. 6 F'en now, my weary soul release, Upraise me with thy gracious nand,

154

1

And guide into thy perfect peace,
And bring me to the promis'd land.

L. M. 229. My spirit shall not always strive. Gen. vi. S. SAY sinner, hath a voice within

Oft whisper'd to thy secret soul, Urg'd thee to leave the ways of sin,

And yield thy heart to God's control? 2 Hath something met thee in the path

Of worldliness and vanity
And pointed to the coming wrath,

And warn'd thee from that wrath to flee! 3 Sinner, it was a heav'nly voice,

It was the Spirit's gracious call;
It bade thee make the better choice,

And haste to seek in Christ thine all. 4 Spuru 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. 5 God's Spirit will not always strive

With harden'd, self-destroying man; Ye, who persist his love to grieve,

May never hear his voice again. 6 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.

230.

C. M.
1
N
TOW is the time, th' accepted hour,

O sinners, come away;
The Saviour's knocking at your door,

Arise without delay.
2 Oh! don't refuse to give him room,
Lest merey should withdraw;

He'll then in robes of vengeance come

To execute his law. 3 Then where, poor mortals, will you be, If destitute of

grace, When you your injur'd Judge shall see,

And stand before his face.
$ Oh! could you shun that dreadful sight,

How would you wish to fly
To the dark shades of endless night,

From that all-searching eye?
5 The dead awak'd must all appear,

And you among them stand,
Before the great impartial bar,

Arraign'd at Christ's left hand. 6 Let not these warnings be in vain,

But lend a list’uing ear;
Lest you should meet thein all again,

When wrapt in keen despair.

THE CERTAINTY OF DEATH AND JUDGMENT

231.

S. M. i A?

ND am I born to die?

To lay this body down?
And must my trembling spirit fly

Into a world unknown? 2 Soon as from earth I go

What will become of me?
Eternal happiness or wo

Must then my portion be!
3 Wak'd by the trumpet's sound,

I from my grave must rise,
And see the Judge with glory crown',

And see the flaming skies. 4 How shall I leave my tomb! With triuinph or regret!

A fearful or a joyful doom,

A curse or blessing meet? 5 Will angel bands convey

Their brother to the bar! Or devils drag my soul away

To meet its sentence there! 6 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? 7 I must from God be driven,

Or with my Saviour dwell;
Must come at his command to heaven,

Or else depart to hell.
8 thou that wouldst not have

One wretched sinner die,
Who diedst thyself, my soul to save

From endless misery;
9 Show me the way to shun

Thy dreadful wrath severe,
That when thou comest on thy throne,

I may with joy appear. 232.

P. M.
AN ND am I only born to die?

And must I suddenly comply
With nature's stern decree?
What after death for me remains?
Celestial joys, or hellish pains,

To all eternity. 2 Ilow then ought I on earth to live, 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

Th' inexorable throne! 4 No matter which my thoughts employ, A moment's misery or joy:

But oh! 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 my 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!

L. M. 233.

Sickness and Death. 1 My soul, the minutes haste away,

Apace comes on th' important day, When in the icy arms of death

I must give up my vital breath.
2 Look forward to the moving scene;

How wilt thou be affected then?
When from on high some sharp disease

Resistless shall my vitals seize,
3 When all the springs of life are low,
The spirits faint, the pulses slow;