Cease thy complaint, suppress thy groan,
And let thy tears forget to flow;
Behold, the precious balm is found,
To lull thy pain, to heal thy wound.
2 Come, freely come, by sin oppressed,
Unburthen here thy weighty load;
Here find thy refuge and thy rest,
And trust the mercy of thy God;
Thy God's thy Saviour-glorious word!
Oh hear, believe, and bless the Lord.
212 Life the Day of Salvation. Ec. ix. 4-6, 10. L. M.
The time t' insure the great reward;
And while the lamp holds out to burn,
The vilest sinner may return.
2 Life is the hour that God has given
To 'scape from hell and fly to heaven;
The day of grace, and mortals may
Secure the blessings of the day.
3 The living know that they must die,
But all the dead forgotten lie;
Their memory and their sense is gone,
Alike unknowing and unknown.
4 Their hatred and their love is lost,
Their envy buried in the dust;
They have no share in all that's done
Beneath the circuit of the sun.
5 Then what my thoughts design to do,
My hands, with all your might pursue;
Since no device nor work is found,
Nor faith nor hope, beneath the ground.
6 There are no acts of pardon pass'd
In the cold grave, to which we haste;
But darkness, death, and long despair,
Reign in eternal silence there.
TOP, poor sinner, stop and think,
Before you farther go;
Will you sport upon the brink
Of everlasting wo?
Once again we charge you-stop;
For unless you warning take,
Ere you are aware, you drop
Into the burning lake.
2 Say, have you an arm like God,
That you his will oppose?
Fear you not that iron rod
With which he breaks his foes?
Can you stand in that dread day,
When he judgment shall proclaim,
And the earth shall melt away,
Like wax before the flame?
3 Soon relentless death will come,
To drag you to his bar;
Then, to hear your awful doom
Will fill you with despair;
All your sins will round you crowd,
Sins of a blood-crimsoned dye,
Each for vengeance crying loud-
And what can you reply?
4 Though your heart be made of steel,
Your forehead lined with brass,
God at length will make you feel;
He will not let you pass.
Sinners then in vain will call,
(Though they now despise his grace,)
"Rocks and mountains, on us fall,
And hide us from his face."
Few saved. Luke xiii. 23.
1 DESTRUCTION'S dangerous road
While that which leads the soul to God
Is known or sought by few.
2 Believers enter in
By Christ, the living gate:
But those who will not leave their sin,
Complain it is too strait.
3 If self must be denied,
And sin forsaken quite,
They rather choose the way that's wide,
And strive to think it right.
4 Encompassed by a throng,
On numbers they depend;
They say so many can't be wrong,
And miss a happy end.
5 But hear the Saviour's word,
"Strive for the heavenly gate;
Many will call upon the Lord,
And find their cries too late."
6 Oh hear the gospel call,
And enter while you may;
The flock of Christ is always small,
Yet none are safe but they.
7 Lord, open sinners' eyes,
Their awful state to see;
And make them, ere the storm arise,
To thee for safety flee.
INNERS, turn, why will ye die?
God your Maker asks you why;
God who did you being give,
Made you with himself to live;
He the fatal cause demands,
Asks the work of his own hands;
Why, ye thankless creatures, why
Will ye cross his love, and die?
2 Sinners, turn, why will ye die?
God your Saviour asks you why;
He who did your souls retrieve-
Died himself that ye might live.
Will ye let him die in vain?
Crucify your Lord again?
Why, ye ransomed sinners, why
Will ye slight his grace, and die?
3 Sinners, turn, why will ye die?
God the Spirit asks you why;
Now his influence from above
Moves you to embrace his love:
Will ye not his grace receive?
Will ye still refuse to live?
Why, ye long-sought sinners, why
Will ye grieve your God, and die?
Frailty and Thoughtlessness.
OW short and hasty is our life! How vast our soul's affairs! Yet senselessly vain mortals 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,
Who slight the joys above!
What chains of vengeance should we feel,
Who 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.
The Danger of Delay.
HASTEN, sinner, to be wise;
be sun:
Wisdom if you still despise,
Harder is it to be won.
2 Hasten mercy to implore;
Stay not for the morrow's sun:
Lest thy season should be o'er,
Ere this evening's course be run.
3 Hasten, sinner, to return;
Stay not for the morrow's sun;
Lest thy lamp should cease to burn,
Ere salvation's work is done.
4 Hasten, sinner, to be bless'd;
Stay not for the morrow's sun;
Lest perdition thee arrest,
Ere the morrow is begun.
5 Lord, do thou the sinner turn;
Rouse him from his senseless state;
Let him not thy counsel spurn,
And lament his choice too late.
The Uncertainty of Life.
NO-MORROW, Lord, is thine,
Lodged in thy sovereign hand;
And if its sun arise and shine,
It shines by thy command.
2 The present moment flies,
And bears our life away;
Oh make thy servants truly wise,
That they may live to-day.
3 Since on this winged hour
Eternity is hung,
Awaken, by thy mighty power,
The aged and the young.
4, One thing demands our care-
Oh, be it now pursued ;
Lest, slighted once, the season fair
Should never be renewed.
5 To Jesus may we fly,
Swift as the morning light,
Lest life's young golden beams should die
In sudden, endless night.
Repentance commanded. Acts xvii. 30.
EPENT, (the voice celestial cries,)
No longer dare delay;
The wretch that scorns the mandate dies,
And meets a fiery day.
2 Ye sinners, in his presence bow,
And all your guilt confess;
Accept the offered Saviour now,
Nor trifle with his grace.
3 Bow ere the awful trumpet sound
And call you to his bar;
For mercy knows th' appointed bound,
And turns to vengeance there.
4 Amazing love, that yet will call,
And yet prolong our days!
Our hearts, subdued by goodness, fall,
And weep and love and praise.
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