Yet senseless mortals vainly strive
To lavish out their years.
2 Our days run thoughtlessly along,
Without a moment's stay;
Just like a story, or a song,
We pass our lives away.
3 God from on high invites us home,"
But we march heedless on,
And ever hastening to the tomb,
Stoop downward as we run.
4 How we deserve the deepest hell,
That slight the joys above!
What chains of vengeance should we feel, That break such cords of love..
5 Draw us, O God, with sovereign grace,
And lift our thoughts on high,
That we may end this mortal race,
And see salvation nigh.
(Hymn 55. B. 2. C. M.)
Frail Life and succeeding Eternity.
HEE we adore, Eternal Name,
And humbly own to thee,
How feeble is our mortal frame!
What dying worms are we!
2 [Our wasting lives grow shorter still
As months and days increase;
And every beating pulse we tell
Leaves but the number less.
3 The year rolls round, and steals away
The breath that first it gave;
Whate'er we do, where'er we be,
We're travelling to the grave.]
4 Dangers stand thick through all the ground To push us to the tomb,
And fierce diseases wait around
To hurry mortals home.
5 Good God! on what a slender thread
Hang everlasting things!
Th' eternal states of all the dead
Upon life's feeble strings.
6 Infinite joy or endless wo
Attends on every breath;
And yet how unconcern'd we go
Upon the brink of death!
7 Waken, O Lord, our drowsy sense,
To walk this dangerous road;
And if our souls are hurried hence,
May they be found with God!
Psalm 90. ver. 1-5. 1st Part. C. M.
Man frail, and God eternal.
1 OUR God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.
2 Under the shadow of thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is thine arm alone,
And our defence is sure.
3 Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth receiv'd her frame,
From everlasting thou art God,
To endless years the same.
4 Thy word commands our flesh to dust, Return, ye sons of men;
All nations rose from earth at first,
And turn to earth again.
5 A thousand ages in thy sight
Are like an evening gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night,
Before the rising sun.
6 [The busy tribes of flesh and blood,
With all their lives and cares,
Are carried downwards by thy flood,
And lost in following years.
7 Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly forgotten as a dream
Dies at the opening day.
8 Like flowery fields the nations stand
Pleas'd with the morning light;
The flowers beneath the mower's hand
Lie withering ere 'tis night.]
9 Our God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be thou our guard while troubles last,
And our eternal home.
Psalm 90. ver. 5. 10. 12. S. M.
The Frailty and Shortness of Life.
ORD, what a feeble piece
Is this our mortal frame!
Our life, how poor a trifle 'tis,
That scarce deserves the name!
Alas, 'twas brittle clay
That built our bodies first!
And every month and every day
They're mouldering back to dust.
Our moments fly apace,
Nor will our minutes stay;
Just like a flood, our hasty days
Are sweeping us away.
Well, if our days must fly,
We'll keep their end in sight,
We'll spend them all in wisdom's way,
And let them speed their flight.
They'll waft us sooner o'er
This life's tempestuous sea:
Soon we shall reach the peaceful shore
Of blest eternity.
646. The Creation, Preservation, Dissolution, and Restora
1 ING to the Lord that built the skies,
SING the tort fear'd this stately frame;
Let half the nations sound his praise,
And lands unknown repeat his name.
2 He form'd the seas, and form'd the hills,
Made every drop, and every dust,
Nature and time with all their wheels,
And put them into motion first.
3 Now from his high imperial throne
He looks far down upon the spheres;
He bids the shining orbs roll on,
And round he turns the hasty years.
4 Thus shall this moving engine last
Till all his saints are gather'd in,
Then for the trumpet's dreadful blast,
To shake it all to dust again!
5 Yet when the sound shall tear the skies,
And lightning burn the globe below,
Saints, you may lift your joyful eyes,
There's a new heaven and earth for you.
DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION.
Hymn 82. B. 1. L. M.
647. God far above Creatures; or, Man vain and mortal,
HALL the vile race of flesh and blood
Contend with their Creator, God!
Shall mortal worms presume to be
More holy, wise, or just than he.
2 Behold he puts his trust in none
Of all the spirits round his throne;
Their natures, when compar'd with his,
Are neither holy, just, nor wise.
3 But how much meaner things are they
Who spring from dust and dwell in clay
Touch'd by the finger of thy wrath,
We faint and perish like the moth.
4 From night to day, from day to night,
We die by thousands in thy sight;
Buried in dust whole nations lie,
Like a forgotten vanity.
5 Almighty Power, to thee we bow;
How frail are we, how glorious Thou!
No more the sons of earth shall dare
With an eternal God compare.
Psalm 90. L. M.
Man mortal, and God eternal.
A mournful Song at a Funeral.
T HROUGH every age, eternal God,
Thou art our rest, our safe abode;
High was thy throne ere heaven was made, Or earth thy humble footstool laid. 2 Long hadst thou reign'd ere time began, Or dust was fashion'd into man;
And long thy kingdom shall endure,
When earth and time shall be no more.
3 But man, weak man, is born to die,
Made up of guilt and vanity:
Thy dreadful sentence, Lord, was just,
Return, ye sinners, to your dust.
4 [A thousand of our years amount
Scarce to a day in thine account;
Like yesterday's departed light,
Or the last watch of ending night.
5 Death, like an overflowing stream
Sweeps us away; our life's a dream,
An empty tale; a morning flower,
Cut down and wither'd in an hour.]
6 [Our age to seventy years is set:
How short the term! how frail the state!
And if to eighty we arrive,
We rather sigh and groan than live.] 7 But, O how oft thy wrath appears, And cuts off our expected years!
Thy wrath awakes our humble dread;
We fear the power that strikes us dead.
8 Teach us, O Lord, how frail is man;
And kindly lengthen out our span,
Till a wise care of piety
Fit us to die, and dwell with thee.
Psalm 102. 23-28. 3d Part. L. M.
Man's Mortality and Christ's Eternity.
T is the Lord our Saviour's hand
Weakens our strength amidst the race;
Disease and death, at his command,
Arrest us, and cut short our days.
2 Spare us, O Lord, aloud we pray,
Nor let our sun go down at noon:
Thy years are one eternal day,
And must thy children die so soon?
3 Yet in the midst of death and grief
This thought our sorrow shall assuage,
Our Father and our Saviour live;
Christ is the same through every age.
4 "Twas he this earth's foundation laid;
Heaven is the building of his hand:
This earth grows old, these heavens shall fade,
And all be chang'd at his command.
5 The starry curtains of the sky
Like garments shall be laid aside:
But still thy throne stands firm and high;
Thy church for ever must abide.
6 Before thy face thy church shall live,
And on thy throne thy children reign:
This dying world shall they survive,
And the dead saints be rais'd again.
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