HYMN 278. L. M. Winchelsea. [*]
The Blessings of the New Covenant.
GOD, in the gospel of his Son,
Makes his eternal counsels known:
Where love in all its glory shines,
And truth is drawn in fairest lines.
2. Here, sinners, of an humble frame,
May taste his grace, and learn his name;
May read in characters of blood,
The wisdom, power, and grace of God.
3 The prisoner here may break his chains;
The weary rest from all his pains;
The captive feel his bondage cease;
The mourner find the way of peace.
4 Here faith reveals to mortal eyes
A brighter world beyond the skies;
Here shines the light which guides our way
From earth to realms of endless day.
5 O grant us grace, Almighty Lord!
To read and mark thy holy word;
Its truth with meekness to receive,
And by its holy precepts live.
HYMN 279. L. M. Nazareth. [b]
Religion. Prov. iv, 7.
e 1 EACH us, O Lord, the great concern,
To know thy will, thy name to love;
Our duty from thy word to learn,
And gain the wisdom from above.
2 Religion must be all in all,
Would we th' immortal prize obtain,
Retrieve the ruins of the fall,
And 'scape the death of endless pain.
3 Send thy good Spirit, Lord, we pray,
To sanctify and cleanse our heart;
May we repent, believe, obey,
And from thy service ne'er depart.
HYMN 280. L. M. Angels' Hymn. [*]
ELIGION bids all sin depart,
And folly flies her chastening rod;
She makes the humble, contrite heart
A temple of the living God.
e 2 Beyond the narrow vale of time,
Where bright celestial ages roll,
To scenes eternal, scenes sublime,
She points the way, and leads the soul.
3 At her approach the grave appears
p The gate of paradise restored;
Her voice the watching cherub hears,
And drops his double flaming sword.
4 Baptized with her renewing fire,
g We shall the crown of glory gain;
Rise when the hosts of heaven expire,
And reign with God, for ever reign.
Montgomery altered.
HYMN 281. C. M. Bangor. [b]
Frailty of Life.
EW are thy days, and full of wo,
O man, of woman born!
Thy doom is written-"Dust thou art,
And shalt to dust return!"
2 Determined are the days that fly
Successive o'er thy head;
The numbered hour is on the wing,
Which lays thee with the dead.
3 Gay is thy morning: flattering hope
Thy sprightly steps attends;
But soon the tempest howls behind,
And the dark night descends!
4 Before its splendid hour, the cloud
Comes o'er the beam of light;
A pilgrim in a weary land,
Man tarries but a night.
HYMN 282. S. M. Olmutz. [*]
O-MORROW, Lord, is tnme!
Lodged in thy sovereign hand;
And if its sun arise and shine,
It shines by thy command.
2 The present moment flies,
And bears our life away;
Oh make thy servants truly wise,
That they may live to-day.
3 Since on this fleeting hour
Eternity is hung,
Awaken, by thy mighty power,
The aged and the young.
4 One thing demands our care-
Be that one thing pursued;
Lest, slighted once, the season fair
Should never be renewed.
b 5 To Jesus may we fly,
Swift as the morning light,
Lest life's young golden beams should die
In sudden, endless night.
Doddridge altered.
HYMN 283. L. M. Dresden. [b]
Vanity of the World, and Happiness of Heaven.
p 1 HOW vain is all beneath the skies!
How transient every earthly bliss!
How slender all the fondest ties,
That bind us to a world like this.
2 The evening cloud, the morning dew,
The withering grass, the fading flower,
Of earthly hopes are emblems true-
The glory a passing hour!
3 But, though earth's fairest blossoms die,
And all beneath the skies is vain,
There is a land whose confines lie
Beyond the reach of care and pain.
b 4 Then let the hope of joys to come
Dispel our cares, and chase our fears:
If God be ours, we're travelling home,
Though passing through a vale of tears.
HYMN 284. C. M. Tolland. [*]
Seek first the Kingdom of God.
OW let a true ambition rise,
And ardor fire our breast,
To reign in worlds above the skies,
In heavenly glories drest.
2 Behold Jehovah's royal hand
A radiant crown display,
Whose gems with vivid lustre shine,
While stars and suns decay.
3 Away, each grovelling, anxious care,
Beneath a Christian's aim;
We spring to seize immortal joys,
In our Redeemer's name.
4 Ye hearts, with youthful vigor warm,
The glorious prize pursue;
Nor fear the want of earthly good,
While heaven is kept in view.
HYMN 285. S. M. Lisbon. [*]
The Unrighteous excluded from Heaven.
AN sinners hope for heaven,
Who love this world so well;
Or dream of future happiness,
While in the road to hell?
2 Shall they hosannas sing,
With an unhallowed tongue;
Shall palms adorn the guilty hand
Which does its neighbor wrong?
3 Can sin's deceitful way
Conduct to Zion's hill;
Or those expect with God to reign
Who disregard his will?
o 4 Thy grace, O God, alone
Can a good hope afford!
The pardoned and renewed shall see
The glory of the Lord.
HYMN 286. L. M. Munich. [b]
AT every motion of our breath,
Α Life trembles on the brink of death;
A taper's flame that upward turns,
While downward to the dust it burns.
2 A moment ushered us to birth,
Heirs of the commonwealth of earth;
Moment by moment, years are past,
And one ere long will be our last.
3 "Twixt that, long-fled, which gave us light,
And that which soon shall end in night,
There is a point no eye can see,
Yet on it hangs eternity.
4 This is that moment,-who shall tell
Whether it leads to heaven or hell?
This is that moment,-as we choose,
The immortal soul we save or lose.
5 Time past and time to come are not,
Time present is our only lot;
O God, henceforth our hearts incline
To seek no other love than thine!
HYMN 287. S. M. Olmutz. [*]
The Issues of Life and Death.
P 10
10 WHERE shall rest be found,
Rest for the weary soul?
"Twere vain the ocean depths to sound,
Or pierce to either pole:
2 The world can never give
The bliss for which we sigh;
'Tis not the whole of life to live,
Nor all of death to die.
3 Beyond this vale of tears,
There is a life above,
Unmeasured by the flight of years,
And all that life is love:-
4 There is a death, whose pang
Outlasts the fleeting breath;
Oh what eternal horrors hang
Around "the second death!"
5 Lord God of truth and grace,
Teach us that death to shun,
Lest we be banished from thy face,
And evermore undone.
HYMN 288. C. M. Dundee. [b]
Treasuring up Wrath.
e 1 UNGRATEFUL man! Oh whence this
long-extended grace?
And whence this madness, that insults
Th' Almighty to his face?
2 Is all the treasured wrath so small,
You labor still for more;
Though not eternal rolling years
Can e'er exhaust that store?
s 3 Swift will the day of vengeance come, Which must your sentence seal;
g And righteous judgment, now unknown, In all its wrath reveal.
p 4 Alarmed and melted at his voice, Your conquered heart shall bow;
g But, to escape the vengeance then, Embrace the Saviour now.
HYMN 289. H. M. Haddam. [b or *] e 1 THEN frowning death appears, WHEN
And points his fatal dart,
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