HEART

103

1051

11th P. M. 76, 76, 77, 76.

The midnight cry.
JEARKEN to the solemn voice,

The awful midnight cry;
Waiting souls, rejoice, rejoice,

And see the Bridegroom nigh:
Lo, he comes to keep his word;

Light and joy his looks impart;
Go ye forth to meet your Lord,

And meet him in your heart.
2 Ye who faint beneath the load

Of sin, your heads lift up;
See your great redeeming God;

He comes, and bids you hope.
In the midnight of your grief,

Jesus doth his mourners cheer;
Lo, he brings you sure relief;

Believe, and feel hin here. 1052

7th P. M. 8 lina 1s. Retrospect of a year. IVHILE, with ceaseless course, the sur

Hasted tl.cough the former year, Many souls their race have run,

Never more to meet us here: Fix'd in an eternal state,

They have done with all below; We a little longer wait,

But how little-none can know. 2 As the winged arrow flies

Speedily the mark to find; As the lightning from the skies

Darts, and leaves no trace behind,Swiftly thus our fleeting days

Bear us down life's rapid stream; Upward, Lord, our spirits raise ; All below is but a dream.

AND IT

wita - the arters

3 Thanks for mercies past receive;

Pardon or our sins renew;
Teach us henceforth how to live

With eternity in view :
Bless thy word to young and old;

Fill us with a Saviour's love;
And when life's short tale is told,

May we reign with thee above.

NEW-YEAR.

1053

18th P. M. 10, 5, 11.
Renewed fidelity and zeal.
Roll round with the year,

pursue, And never stand still till the Master appear. His adorable will let us gladly fulfil,

And our talents improve,
By the patience of hope, and the labour of love
2 Our life is a dream; our time, as a stream,

Glides, swiftly away,
And the fugitive moment refuses to stay.
The arrow is flown,--the moment is gone ;

The millennial year
Rushes on to our view, and eternity's here.
3 O that each, in the day of His coming, may

say,
I have fought my way through ;
I have finish'd the work thou didst give me to do.
Othat each from his Lord may receive the glad

word,
Well and fait fully done!
Enter into my joy, and sit down on my throne.

1054

C. M.
Renewing the covenant.

divine,
And all, with one accoril,
In a perpetual cov'nant join

Ourselves to Christ the Lord;
2 Give up ourselves, through Jesus' power,

His Name to glorify;
And promise, in this sacred hour,

For God to live and die.
3 The cov'nant we this moment make

Be ever kept in mind;
We will no more our God forsake,

Or cast his words bebind.
4 We never will throw off his fear,

Who hears our solemn vow;
And if thou art well pleased to hear,

Come down, and meet us now,
5 Thee, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,

Let all our hearts receive; Present with the celestial host,

The peaceful answer give. 6 To each the cov'nant blood apply,

Which takes our sins away And register our names on high,

And keep us to that day. 1055

C. M.
With praise and thanksgiving.
CING to the great Jehovah's praise;
S
Who kindly lengthens out our days,

Demands our choicest songs:
His providence hath brought us through

Another various year;
We all, with vows and anthems now,

Before our God appear.

2 Father, thy mercies past we own,

Thy still continued care,
To thee presenting, through thy Son,

Whate'er we have or are :
Our lips and lives shall gladly show

The wonders of thy love;
While on in Jesus' steps we go,

To seek thy face above.
3 Our residue of days or hours

Thine, wholly thine, shall be;
And all our consecrated powers

A sacrifice to thee,
Till Jesus in the clouds appear,

To saints on earth forgiven,
And bring the grand Sabbatic year,

The jubilee of heaven.

1056

3d P. M. 4 69 & 2 88

The barren fig-tree.
THE Lord of earth and sky,

,
Who reigns enthroned on high,

Ancient of endless days,
Who lengthens out our trials here,
And spares us yet another year.
2 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.
3 When justice bared the sword

To cut the fig-tree down,
The pity of the Lord

Cried, -Let it still alone :
The Father mild inclines his ear,
And spares us vet another year,

!

4 Jesus, thy speaking blood

From God obtain'd the grace,
Who therefore hath bestow'd

On is a longer space;
Thou didst in our behalf appear,
And, lo! we see another year.
5 Then dig about the root;

Break up our fallow ground;
And let our gracious fruit

To thy great praise abound;
O let us all thy praise declare,
And fruit unto perfection bear.

BREVITY AND UNCERTAINTY

OF LIFE. 1057

S. M.
On beginning a new year.
UR few revolving years,
How short the terin of life appears

When past-but as a day! 2 A dark and clondy day,

Clouded by grief and sin; A host of enemies without,

Distressing fears within. 3 Lord, through another year

If thou permit our stay, With diligence may we pursue

The true and living way. 1058

Frailty of life. TIEE we adore, eternal Name!

And humbly own to thee Ilow feeble is our mortal frame

What dying worms are we!

C. M.