Early hasten to the tomb,
Where they laid His breathless clay,
All is solitude and gloom,
Who hath taken Him away?
Christ is risen! He meets our eyes!
Saviour, teach us so to rise.
LIFE, DEATH, AND JUDGMENT.
FEW, few and evil are thy days,
Man, of a woman born!
Peril and trouble haunt thy ways:
Forth, like a flower at morn,
The tender infant springs to light,
Youth blossoms to the breeze,
Age, withering age, is cropt ere night ;
Man, like a shadow, flees.
And dost Thou look on such a one?
Will God to judgment call
A worm for what a worm hath done
Against the Lord of all?—
As fail the waters from the deep,
As summer-brooks run dry,
Man lieth down in dreamless sleep,
His life is vanity.
Man lieth down, no more to wake,
Till yonder arching sphere
Shall with a roll of thunder break,
And Nature disappear.
O hide me till thy wrath be past,
Thou who canst slay or save!
Hide me, where hope may anchor fast,
In my Redeemer's grave.
THE WIDOW OF NAIN AND HER SON.
WAKE not, O mother, sounds of lamentation!
Weep not, O widow, weep not hopelessly!
Strong is His arm, the Bringer of Salvation,
Strong is the Word of God to succour thee.
Bear forth the cold corpse, slowly, slowly bear him,
Hide his pale features with the sable pall:
Chide not the sad one wildly weeping near him :
Widow'd and childless, she has lost her all!
Why pause the mourners? Who forbids our weeping?
Who the dark pomp of sorrow has delay'd?
"Set down the bier-he is not dead but sleeping:
Young man, arise !"-He spake, and was obey'd!
Change, then, O sad one! grief to exultation ;
Worship and fall before Messiah's knee;
Strong was His arm, the Bringer of Salvation;
Strong was the Word of God to succour Thee!
ON THE DEATH OF AN AGED MINISTER.
SERVANT of God, well done!
Rest from thy loved employ ;
The battle fought, the victory won,
Enter thy Master's joy.
The voice at midnight came,
He started up to hear;
A mortal arrow pierced his frame,
He fell-but felt no fear.
Tranquil amidst alarms,
It found him on the field,
A veteran slumbering on his arms,
Beneath his red cross shield.
His sword was in his hand,
Still warm with recent fight,
Ready that moment, at command,
Through rock and steel to smite.
It was a two-edged blade,
Of heavenly temper keen;
And double were the wounds it made,
Where'er it glanced between.
'Twas death to sin,-'twas life
To all who mourn'd for sin;
It kindled, and it silenced strife,
Made war and peace within.
Oft with its fiery force
His arm had quell'd the foe;
And laid, resistless in his course
The alien armies low.
Bent on such glorious toils,
The world to him was loss,
Yet all his trophies, all his spoils,
He hung upon the cross.
At midnight came the cry,
"To meet thy God prepare!"
He woke and caught his Captain's eye;
Then, strong in faith and prayer,
His spirit, with a bound,
Left its encumbering clay;
His tent, at sunrise, on the ground,
A darken'd ruin lay.
The pains of death are past,
Labour and sorrow cease;
And, life's long warfare closed at last,
His soul is found in peace.
Soldier of Christ, well done!
Praise be thy new employ;
And while eternal ages run,
Rest in thy Saviour's joy.
THE world lay hush'd in slumber deep,
And darkness veil'd the mind,
When rose upon their shadowy sleep,
The star that saves mankind.
It dawns o'er Bethl'hem's holy shed
And scatt'ring at the sight,
Heaven's idol-host at once have fled
Before that awful light.
Led by the solitary star,
To glory's poor abode,
Lo! wond'ring wisdom from afar
Brings incense to her God.
Humility, on Judah's hills,
Watching her fleecy care,
Turns to an angel voice, that fills
With love the midnight air.
Like voices thro' yon bursting cloud.
Announce th' Almighty plan:
Hymning, in adoration loud,
"Peace and good-will to man."
LIFT up your eyes of faith, and see
Saints and angels joined in one;
What a countless company
Meet before yon dazzling throne !
Each before his Saviour stands,
All in milk-white robes array'd
Palms they carry in their hands,
Crowns of glory on their head.
Saints, begin the endless song,
Cry aloud in heav'nly lays;
Glory doth to God belong;
God, the glorious Saviour, praise :
All salvation from Him came;
Him, who reigns enthron'd on high
Glory to the bleeding Lamb,
Let the morning stars reply.
Angel-powers the throne surround,
Next the saints in glory they ;
Lull'd with the transporting sound,
They their silent homage pay:
Prostrate on their face before
God and His Messiah fall;
Then in hymns of praise adore,
Shout the Lamb, who died for all.
Be it so, they all reply,
Him let all our orders praise;
Him that did for sinners die,
Saviour of the favour'd race.
Render we our God His right,
Glory, wisdom, thanks, and pow'r ;
Honour, majesty, and might;
Praise Him, praise Him evermore !
WHERE high the heavenly temple stands,
The house of God not made with hands,
A great High Priest our nature wears,
The guardian of mankind appears.
He who for men their surety stood,
And pour'd on earth His precious blood,
Pursues in heaven His mighty plan,
The Saviour and the friend of man.
Though now ascended up on high,
He bends on earth a brother's eye;
Partaker of the human name,
He knows the frailty of our frame.
Our fellow-suff'rer yet retains
A fellow-feeling of our pains,
And still remembers in the skies,
His tears, His agonies, and cries.
In ev'ry pang that rends the heart,
The Man of Sorrows had a part;
He sympathizes with our grief,
And to the suff'rer sends relief.
With boldness, therefore, at the throne
Let us make all our sorrows known,
And ask the aids of heav'nly power
To help us in the evil hour.
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