2 No terror has death, or the grave,

To those who believe in the LordWho knew the Redeemer can save,

And lean on the faith of his word: While ashes to ashes, and dust

We give unto dust, in our gloom,
The light of salvation we trust,
Which hangs like a lamp in the tomb.

3 O Lord God Almighty! to thee
We turn, as our solace above;
The waters may fail from the sea,
But never thy fountains of love :

O teach us thy will to obey,

And sing, with one heart and accord,

He gave, and he taketh away,

And praised be the name of the Lord.

1074

Victory over the fears of death.
FOR an overcoming faith,
To cheer my dying hours,-
To triumph o'er approaching death,
And all his frightful powers.

C. M.

2 Joyful, with all the strength I have,
My quiv'ring lips should sing,--
Where is thy boasted vict'ry, Grave?
And where, O Death, thy sting?

3 If sin be pardon'd, I'm secure ;
Death has no sting beside:
The law gives sin its damning power,
But Christ, my ransom, died.

4 Now to the God of victory
Immortal thanks be paid,-

Who makes us conqu'rors, while we die, Through Christ, our living Head.

1075

Disembodied saints.

L. M.

THE

HE saints who die of Christ possess'd.
Enter into immediate rest;

For them no further test remains,
Of purging fires and torturing pains.
2 Who trusting in their Lord depart,
Cleansed from all sin, and pure in heart,
The bliss unmix'd, the glorious prize,
They find with Christ in paradise.
3 Yet, glorified by grace alone,
They cast their crowns before the throne,
And fill the echoing courts above

With praises of redeeming love.

1076

HOW

L. M.

The Christian's parting hour. OW sweet the hour of closing day, When all is peaceful and serene, And when the sun, with cloudless ray, Sheds mellow lustre o'er the scene! 2 Such is the Christian's parting hour; So peacefully he sinks to rest; When faith, endued from heaven with power, Sustains and cheers his languid breast.

3 Mark but that radiance of his eye,
That smile upon his wasted cheek;
They tell us of his glory nigh,

In language that no tongue can speak.
4 A beam from heaven is sent to cheer
The pilgrim on his gloomy road;
And angels are attending near,

To bear him to their bright abode.

5 Who would not wish to die like those

Whom God's own Spirit deigns to bless? To sink into that soft repose,

Then wake to perfect happiness?

1077

37th P. M. 66, 83, 88.

Friends separated for a seasm.
RIEND after friend departs:

FRIEN

Who hath not lost a friend?
There is no union here of hearts

That finds not here an end:
Were this frail world our only rest,
Living or dying, none were blest.
2 Beyond the flight of time,
Beyond this vale of death,
There surely is some blessed clime
Where life is not a breath,
Nor life's affection transient fire,
Whose sparks fly upward to expire.
3 There is a world above,
Where parting is unknown;
A whole eternity of love,

Form'd for the good alone:
And faith beholds the dying here
Translated to that happier sphere.

4 Thus star by star declines,
Till all are pass'd away,

As morning high and higher shines,
To pure and perfect day;

Nor sink those stars in empty night,

They hide themselves in heaven's own light.

1078

7th P. M. 8 lines 7s.

Blessedness of those who die in the Lord.
ARK! a voice divides the sky :-
Happy are the faithful dead!

HA

In the Lord who sweetly die,
They from all their toils are freed;
Them the Spirit hath declared
Blest, unutterably blest;
Jesus is their great reward,

Jesus is their endless rest.

1066

L. M.

A peaceful death expected, and prayed for.

SHRINKING from the cold hand of death,

soon shall gather up my feet;

Shall soon resign this fleeting breath,
And die, my fathers' God to meet.

2 Number'd among thy people, I
Expect with joy thy face to see:
Because thou didst for sinners die,
Jesus, in death remember me!

3 0 that, without a ling'ring groan,
I may the welcome word receive;
My body with my charge lay down,
And cease at once to work and live.

4 Walk with me through the dreadful shade, And, certified that thou art mine,

My spirit, calm and undismay'd,

I shall into thy hands resign.

5 No anxious doubt, no guilty gloom,
Shall damp whom Jesus' presence cheers:
My Light, my Life, my God is come,
And glory in his face appears.

1067

I am going the way of all the earth.

PASS

L. M.

ASS a few swiftly fleeting years, And all that now in bodies live Shall quit, like me, the vale of tears, Their righteous sentence to receive.

2 But all, before they hence remove, May mansions for themselves prepare In that eternal house above;

And, O my God, shall I be there?

DEATH AND RESURRECTION.

1068

A

Solemn thoughts on the future.

ND am I born to die?

To lay this body down?

S. M.

And must my trembling spirit fly
Into a world unknown?-
A land of deepest shade,

Unpierced by human thought;
The dreary regions of the dead,
Where all things are forgot!
2 Soon as from earth I go,
What will become of me?
Eternal happiness or wo

Must then my portion be:
Waked by the trumpet's sound,
I from my grave shall rise,
And see the Judge, with glory crown'd,
And see the flaming skies!

3 How shall I leave my tomb—
With triumph or regret?
A fearful or a joyful doom,
A curse or blessing, meet?
Will angel bands convey

Their brother to the bar?
Or devils drag my soul away,

To meet its sentence there?

4 Who can resolve the doubt

That tears my anxious breast?
Shall I be with the damn'd cast out,

Or number'd with the blest?

I must from God be driven,

Or with my Saviour dwell;

Must come at his command to heaven,
Or else depart to hell!