5 There joys, unseen by mortal eyes,
Or reason's feeble ray,
In ever-blooming prospects rise,
Unconscious of decay.
6 Thither, on faith's sublimest wing,
Our ardent wishes rise,
To those bright scenes where pleasures spring
The Shortness of Time, and Frailty of Man. Ps. 39.
1 ALMIGHTY Maker of my frame,
Teach me the measure of my days!
Teach me to know how frail I am,
And spend the remnant to thy praise.
2 My days are shorter than a span;
A little point my life appears;
How frail at best is dying man!
How vain are all his hopes and fears!
3 Vain his ambition, noise, and show!
Vain are the cares which rack his mind!
He heaps up treasures mixed with woe,
And dies, and leaves them all behind.
4 O, be a nobler portion mine:
My God! I bow before thy throne;
Earth's fleeting treasures I resign,
And fix my hope on thee alone.
5 Save me by thine almighty arm
From all my sins, and cleanse my faults;
Then guilt nor folly shall alarm
My soul, nor vex my peaceful thoughts.
1 TEACH me the measure of my days,
Thou Maker of my frame !
I would survey life's narrow space,
And learn how frail I am.
2 A span is all that we can boast,-
An inch or two of time;
Man is but vanity and dust,
In all his flower and prime.
3 See the vain race of mortals move
Like shadows o'er the plain;
They rage and strive, desire and love,
But all their noise is vain.
4 Some walk in honor's gaudy show,
Some dig for golden cre;
They toil for heirs, they know not who,
And straight are seen no more.
5 What should I wish or wait for, then,
From creatures, earth, and dust?
They make our expectations vain,
And disappoint our trust.
6 Now I forbid my carnal hope,
My fond desires recall;
I give my mortal interest up,
And make my God my all.
1 LORD, what a feeble piece
Is this our mortal frame!
Our life, how poor a trifle 'tis,
That scarce deserves a name!
2 Alas! 'twas brittle clay
That built our body first!
And every month and every day
'Tis mouldering back to dust.
3 Our moments fly apace,
Nor will our minutes stay;
Just like a flood our hasty days
Are sweeping us away.
4 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.
5 They'll waft us sooner o'er This life's tempestuous sea; Soon we shall reach the peaceful shore
The Hour of Death, and Entrance on Immortality.
10 GOD unseen-but not unknown!
Thine eye is ever fixed on me;
I dwell beneath thy secret throne,
Encompassed by thy deity.
2 The moment comes when strength must fail,
When,-health and hope and comfort flown,-
I must go down into the vale
And shade of death, with thee alone :
3 Alone with thee;-in that dread strife,
Uphold me through mine agony,
And gently be this dying life
Exchanged for immortality.
4 Then, when th' unbodied spirit lands
Where flesh and blood have never trod,
And in the unveiled presence stands
Of thee, my Savior and my God:
5 Be mine eternal portion this,
Since thou wert always here with me,
That I may view thy face in bliss,
And be for evermore with thee.
Universal Warning of Death.
1 BENEATH our feet and o'er our head
Is equal warning given :
Beneath us lie the countless dead,
Above us is the heaven!
2 Their names are graven on the stone,
Their bones are in the clay;
And ere another day is done,
Ourselves may be as they.
3 Death rides on every passing breeze,
He lurks in every flower;
Each season has its own disease,
Its peril every hour.
4 Our eyes have seen the rosy light
Of youth's soft cheek decay,
And fate descend in sudden night
On manhood's middle day.
5 Our eyes have seen the steps of age
Halt feebly towards the tomb;
And yet shall earth our hearts engage,
And dreams of days to come?
6 Turn, mortal! turn, thy danger know;
Where'er thy foot can tread,
The earth rings hollow from below
And warns thee of her dead!
Death is God's Messenger. Ps. 102.
1 It is the Lord our Savior's hand
Weakens our strength amid 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 Savior live;
Christ is the same through every age.'
4 The starry curtains of the sky,
Like garments, shall be laid aside;
But still thy throne stands firm and high,
Thy church forever must abide.
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