3 Yet like an idle tale we pass
The swift-advancing year,
And study artful ways to increase
The speed of its career.

4 Waken, O God, my trifling heart,
Its great concern to see ;
That I may act the Christian part,
And give the year to thee.

5 So shall their course more grateful roll,
If future years arise;

Or this shall bear my smiling soul
To joy that never dies.

651

L. M.

For a new Year.

Doddridge.

1 GREAT God, we sing that mighty hand,
By which supported still we stand:
The opening year thy mercy shows;
That mercy crowns it till it close.

2 By day, by night, at home, abroad,
Still are we guarded by our God,
By his incessant bounty fed,

By his unerring counsel led.

3 With grateful hearts the past we own;
The future, all to us unknown,
We to thy guardian care commit,
And peaceful leave before thy feet.

4 In scenes exalted or depressed,
Thou art our joy, and thou our rest;
Thy goodness all our hopes shall raise,
Adored through all our changing days.

5 When death shall interrupt these songs,
And seal in silence mortal tongues,
Our Helper, God, in whom we trust,
In better worlds our souls shall boast.

652

P. M.

For a new Year.

WESLEY'S COL.

1 COME, let us anew our journey pursue, Roll round with the year,

And never stand still till the Master appear.

2 His adorable will let us gladly fulfil, And our talents improve,

By the patience of hope, and the labor of love.

3 Our life is a dream; our time, as a stream, Glides swiftly away,

And the fugitive moment refuses to stay.

4 The arrow is flown; the moment is gone; The millennial year

Rushes on to our view, and eternity's here.

5 0 that each, in the day of his coming, may say, "I have fought my way through;

I have finished the work thou didst give me to

do."

60 that each from his Lord may receive the glad

word,

"Well and faithfully done!

Enter into my joy, and sit down on my throne.”

507

653

7s M.

Time, how swift!

J. NEWTON.

1 WHILE, with ceaseless course, the sun
Hasted through the former year,
Many souls their race have run,
Never more to meet us here:
Fixed in an eternal state,

They have done with all below;
We a little longer wait,

But how little none can know.

2 As the winged arrow flies,

Speedily the mark to find,-
As the lightning from the skies
Darts, and leaves no trace behind,
Swiftly thus our fleeting days
Bear us down life's rapid stream:
Upwards, Lord, our spirits raise;
All below is but a dream.

3 Thanks for mercies past receive;
Pardon of our sins renew;

Teach us, henceforth, how to live
With eternity in view;
Bless thy word to young and old,
Fill us with a Savior's love,
And when life's short tale is told,
May we dwell with thee above.

508

654

C. M.

WATTS.

The Seasons of the Year. Ps. 147.

1 WITH songs and honors sounding loud, Address the Lord on high;

Over the heavens he spreads his cloud,
And waters veil the sky.

2 He sends his showers of blessing down.
To cheer the plains below;

He makes the grass the mountains crown, And corn in valleys grow.

3 He gives the grazing ox his meat,
He hears the raven's cry,

But man, who tastes his finest wheat,
Should raise his honors high.

4 His steady counsels change the face
Of the declining year;

He bids the sun cut short his race,
And wintry days appear.

5 His hoary frost, his fleecy snow,
Descend and clothe the ground;
The liquid streams forbear to flow,
In icy fetters bound.

6 He sends his word, and melts the snow; The fields no longer mourn ;

He calls the warmer gales to blow,
And bids the spring return.

7 The changing wind, the flying cloud,
Obey his mighty word;

With songs and honors sounding loud,
Praise ye the sovereign Lord.

The Year crowned with the divine Goodness.

1 ETERNAL Source of every joy, Well may thy praise our lips employ, While in thy temple we appear,

DODDRIDGE.

Whose goodness crowns the circling year.
2 Wide as the wheels of nature roll,
Thy hand supports the steady pole;
The sun is taught by thee to rise,
And darkness when to veil the skies.

3 The flowery spring, at thy command,
Embalms the air, and paints the land;
The summer rays with vigor shine,
To raise the corn, and cheer the vine.

4 Thy hand in autumn richly pours
Through all our coasts redundant stores;
And winters, softened by thy care,

No more a face of horror wear.

5 Seasons, and months, and weeks, and days,
Demand successive songs of praise;
Still be the cheerful homage paid
With opening light and evening shade.

6 O, may our more harmonious tongues
In worlds unknown pursue the songs,
And in those brighter courts adore,
Where days and years revolve no more.

510