His adorable will
Let us gladly fulfil,

And our talents improve

By the patience of hope, and the labor of love.
2 Our life is a dream;
Our time, as a stream,
Glides swiftly away,

And the fugitive moment refuses to stay ;
The arrow is flown;

The moment is gone;

The millennial year

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

3 O, 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 ";
O, that each from his Lord

May receive the glad word,
"Well and faithfully done;

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

719.

C. M.

Close of the Year.

DODL RIDGE.

1 AWAKE, ye saints, and raise your eyes,
And lift your voices high;
Awake, and praise that sovereign love
That shows salvation nigh.

2 On all the wings of time it flies;
Each moment brings it near:
Then welcome each declining day;
Welcome each closing year.

3 Not many years their rounds shall run,
Nor many mornings rise,

Ere all its glories stand revealed
To our admiring eyes.

4 Ye wheels of nature, speed your course;
Ye mortal powers, decay;
Fast as ye bring the night of death,
Ye bring eternal day.

Reflections at the End of the Year.

1 AND now, my soul, another year
Of thy short life is past;

I cannot long continue here,

And this may be

my last.

2 Much of my hasty life is gone,
Nor will return again;

And swift my passing moments run,
The few that yet remain.

3 Awake, my soul; with utmost care
Thy true condition learn:

ANONYMOUS.

What are thy hopes? how sure? how fair?
What is thy great concern?

4 Behold another year begins;
Set out afresh for heaven;
Seek pardon for thy former sins,
In Christ so freely given.

5 Devoutly yield thyself to God,
And on his grace depend;
With zeal pursue the heavenly road,
Nor doubt a happy end.

721.

L. M.

Close of the Year.

DODDRIDGE.

1 OUR Helper, God, we bless his name,
Whose love for ever is the same;
The tokens of whose gracious care
Begin, and crown, and close the year.
2 Amid ten thousand snares we stand,
Supported by his guardian hand;

And see, when we review our ways,
Ten thousand monuments of praise.

3 Thus far his arm hath led us on;

Thus far we make his mercy known;
And while we tread this desert land,
New mercies shall new songs demand.
4 Our grateful souls on Jordan's shore
Shall raise one sacred pillar more,
Then bear, in his bright courts above,
Inscriptions of immortal love.

722.

C. M.

Close of the Year.

DODDRIDGE.

1 REMARK, my soul, the narrow bound
Of each revolving year;

How swift the weeks complete their round!
How short the months appear!

2 So fast eternity comes on,

And that important day

When all that mortal life hath done
God's judgment shall survey.

3 Yet like an idle tale we pass
The swift-revolving year,
And study artful ways t' increase
The speed of its career.

4 Awake, O God, my careless heart
Its great concerns 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 waiting soul
To joy beyond the skies.

723.

10s. M.

The changing Year.

E. TAYLOR.

1 GOD of the changing year, whose arm of power
In safety leads through danger's darkest hour,
Here in thy temple bow thy creatures down,
To bless thy mercy, and thy might to own.
2 Thine are the beams that cheer us on our way,
And pour around the gladdening light of day;
Thine is the night, and the fair orbs that shine
To cheer its hours of darkness, all are thine.
3 If round our path the thorns of sorrow grew,
And mortal friends were faithless, thou wert true;
Did sickness shake the frame, or anguish tear
The wounded spirit, thou wert present there.
4 Yet when our hearts review departed days,
How vast thy mercies! how remiss our praise!
Well may we dread thine awful eye to meet,
Bend at thy throne, and worship at thy feet.
5 O, lend thine ear, and lift our voice to thee;
Where'er we dwell, still let thy mercy be;
From year to year, still nearer to thy shrine
Draw our frail hearts, and make them wholly thine.

Uncertainty of Life. New Year.

1 SEE! another year is gone!
Quickly have the seasons past!
This we enter now upon
Will to many prove their last.
Mercy hitherto has spared,

But have mercies been improved?
Let us ask, Am I prepared

Should I be this year removed?
2 Some we now no longer see,
Who their mortal race have run,

NEWTON.

Seemed as fair for life as we,
When the former year begun.
Some - but who God only knows
That are here assembled now,
Ere the present year shall close,
To the stroke of death must bow.
3 If from guilt and sin set free

By the knowledge of thy grace,
Welcome, then, the call will be
To depart and see thy face.
To thy saints while here below,
With new years new mercies come
But the happiest year they know
Is the last, that leads them home.

Purposes on Beginning a New Year. 1 MY few revolving years,

-

appears

How swift they glide away!
How short the term of life
When past, but as a day!
2 A dark and cloudy day,
Clouded by grief and sin;
A host of enemies without,
Distressing fears within.
3 Lord, through another year
If thou permit my stay,
With diligence may I pursue
The true and living way!

The Flight of Time.

1 GOD of eternity, from thee

Did infant Time his being draw;

BEDDOME.

DODDRIDGE.

Moments, and days, and months, and years
Revolve by thine unvaried law.