488

S. M.

DODDRIDGE.

Singing in the Ways of God. Ps. cxxxviii. 5.

1 NOW let our voices join

To form one pleasant song;
Ye pilgrims, in Jehovah's ways,
With music pass along.

2 How straight the path appears!
How open, and how fair!
No lurking gins to entrap our feet,
No fierce destroyer there;

3 But flowers of paradise

In rich profusion spring;
The sun of glory gilds the path,
And dear companions sing.

4 See Salem's golden spires

In beauteous prospect rise,
And brighter crowns than mortals wear,
Which sparkle through the skies.

5 All honor to his name,

Who drew the shining trace;

To him who leads the wanderers on,
And cheers them with his grace.

489

L. M.

This Life leading to another.

DODDRIDGE.

1 BEHOLD the path that mortals tread
Down to the regions of the dead;
Nor will the fleeting moments stay,
Nor can we measure back our way.

2 Our kindred and our friends are gone;
Know, O my soul, this doom thy own;
Feeble as theirs my mortal frame,
The same my way, my house the same.

3 From vital air, from cheerful light,
To the cold grave's perpetual night,
From scenes of duty, means of grace,
Must I to God's tribunal pass.

4 Awake, my soul, thy way prepare,
And lose in this each mortal care;
With steady feet that path be trod,
Which through the grave conducts to God.

490

C. M.

The Trials of Virtue.

MERRICK.

1 PLACED on the verge of youth, my mind Life's opening scene surveyed;

I viewed its ills of various kinds,
Afflicted and afraid.

2 But chief my fear the dangers moved
That virtue's path enclose;

My heart the wise pursuit approved,
But, O, what toils oppose!

3 For, see, while yet her unknown ways
With doubtful step I tread,

A hostile world its terrors raise,
Its snares delusive spread.

4 O, how shall I, with heart prepared,
Those terrors learn to meet?

How from the thousand snares to guard
My inexperienced feet?

5 Let faith suppress each rising fear,
Each anxious doubt exclude;
My Maker's will has placed me here,
A Maker wise and good.

6 He to my every trial knows
Its just restraint to give;
Attentive to behold my woes,

And faithful to relieve.

7 Though griefs unnumbered throng thee round, Still in thy God confide,

Whose finger marks the seas their bound,
And curbs the rolling tide.

491

S. M.

DODDRIDGE.

Wise Use of the Light, before the Night cometh.

1 THE swift-declining day,

How fast its moments fly!

While evening's broad and gloomy shade.
Gains on the western sky.

2 Ye mortals, mark its pace,

And use the hours of light;
And know its Maker can command

An instantaneous night.

3 His word blots out the sun

In its meridian blaze,

And cuts from smiling, vigorous youth
The remnant of its days.

4 On the dark mountain's brow
Your feet shall quickly slide,
And from its airy summit dash
Your momentary pride.

5 Give glory to the Lord,

Who rules the whirling sphere;
Submissive at his footstool bow,
And seek salvation there.

6 Then shall new lustre break

Through horror's darkest gloom,
And lead you to unchanging light
In a celestial home.

492

L. M.

Life the Day of Grace and Hope.

WATTS.

1 LIFE is the time to serve the Lord,
The time to insure the great reward;
And while the lamp holds out to burn,
The vilest sinner may return.

2 The living know that they must die,
But all the dead forgotten lie;

Their memory and their sense is gone,
Alike unknowing and unknown.

3 Then what my thoughts design to do,
My hands, with all your might pursue,
Since no device nor work is found,
Nor faith nor hope, beneath the ground.

493

L. M.

DODDRIDGE.

The weeping Seed-Time and joyful Harvest. Ps. cxxvi. 5, 6.

1 THE darkened sky, how thick it lowers! Troubled with storms, and big with showers, No cheerful gleam of light appears,

But Nature pours forth all her tears.

2 Yet let the sons of grace revive;
God bids the soul that seeks him live;
And from the gloomiest shade of night
Calls forth a morning of delight.

3 The seeds of ecstasy unknown
Are in these watered furrows sown;
See the green blades, how thick they rise,
And with fresh verdure bless our eyes!
4 In secret foldings they contain
Unnumbered ears of golden grain;
And heaven shall pour its beams around,
Till the ripe harvest load the ground.

5 Then shall the trembling mourner come,
And find his sheaves, and bear them home :
The voice long broke with sighs shall sing,
Till heaven with hallelujahs ring.

494

L. M.

The narrow Way.

COWPER.

1 WHAT thousands never knew the road!
What thousands hate it when 'tis known!
None but the chosen tribes of God
Will seek or choose it for their own.

2 A thousand ways in ruin end;

One only leads to joys on high; By that my willing steps ascend, Pleased with a journey to the sky.

3 No more I ask or hope to find Delight or happiness below;

Sorrow may well possess the mind

That feeds where thorns and thistles grow.