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Reflection at the end of the Year.

1 AND now, my soul, another year
Of thy short life is past;
I cannot long continue here,
The next may be my last.

3 Much of my dubious 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;

What are thy hopes, how sure, how fair,
And what thy great concern.

4 Now a new scene of time begins,
Now fix thy hopes in heaven;
Seek pardon of thy former sins,
In Christ so freely given.

5 Now seek to yield thyself to God;
And on his power depend

For grace to guide thee in that road,
Which shall in glory end.

44 C. M.

Every year brings us nearer Heaven. 1 SERVANTS of God, awake! arise, And lift your voices high;

Praise and adore that boundless love
Which brings salvation nigh.

2 Swift on the wings of time it flies,
Each moment leads it near;
Then gladly view each closing day,
Gladly each closing year.

3 Few, few, indeed, their rounds shall run, Few future mornings rise,

Ere all its glories stand reveal'd
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.

1

2

3

4

Retrospect of a Year.

TIME by moments steals away,
First the hour and then the day;
Small the daily loss appears,
Yet it soon amounts to years.

Thus another year is flown,
And is now no more our own:
But each year, let none forget,
Finds and leaves us deep in debt.

Favours from the Lord receiv'd,
Sins that have the Spirit griev'd,
Who can tell the vast amount
Plac'd to each of our account?

We have nothing, Lord, to pay;
Take, oh! take our guilt away:
Self-condemn'd, on thee we call,
Freely, Lord, forgive us all.

5

If we see another year,
May we spend it in thy fear;
All its days devote to thee,
Living for eternity.

46 L. M.

Man knoweth not his time.

1 How many kindred souls are fled, To the vast regions of the dead, Since from this day the changing sun, Thro' its last yearly course has run ! 2 We yet survive;--but who can say How soon the Lord may close our day? This vital breath is thine, O God! 'Tis thine to fix the soul's abode.

3 To thee our spirits we resign;

Make them and own them still as thine:
So shall we rest secure from fear,
Tho' death should blight the coming year,
THE NEW YEAR.

(Appropriate Psalms)

[65 Part ii. 90 Part i. 106 Part i. 111 Part i.]

For God's protection during the New Year.
1 GREAT God, we sing that mighty hand
By which supported still we stand :
The opening year thy mercy shows;
Let mercy crown it till the close.

2 With grateful hearts the past we own;
The future all to us unknown

We to thy guardian care commend;-
Our lives from dangers, Lord, defend.

3 In scenes exalted or depress'd,
Be thou our joy, and thou our rest;
Thy goodness all our hopes shall raise,
Adored through all our changing days.
4 When death shall interrupt these songs,
And seal in silence all our tongues,
The God who gave us all our days,
In better worlds our souls shall praise.

Time passing away- Eternity approaching. 1 REMARK, my soul, the narrow bounds Of the revolving year;

How swift the weeks complete their rounds,
How short the months appear.

2 So fast eternity comes on,

And that important day,

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

3 Waken, O God, my trifling heart,
Its great concern to see;

That

may act the Christian's part,

And give myself to thee.

4 So shall my course more grateful roll,
If future years arise;

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

Let it alone this year also.

THE Lord of earth and sky,
The God of ages praise,
Who reigns enthron'd on high,
Ancient of endless days.

2

3

Who lengthens out our trial here,
And spares us yet another year.

Barren and wither'd trees,
We cumber'd long the ground;
No fruit of holiness

On our dead souls was found;
Yet doth he us in mercy spare,
Another, and another year.

When justice rais'd the sword
To cut the fig tree down,
The pity of our Lord

Cried, "Let it still alone :"
The Father mild inclines his ear,
And spares us yet another year.

4 Jesus, thy precious blood

From God obtain'd the grace,
Who, therefore, hath bestow'd
On us a longer space :

Thou didst in our behalf appear,
And, lo! we see another year.

For grace to spend the year with God.

1 Now gracious Lord thine arm reveal,
And make thy glory known;
And let us all thy presence feel,
And melt these hearts of stone.

2 From all the guilt of former sin
Let mercy set us free;

And let the year we now begin,
Begin and end with thee.