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2 Attendant plagues around him stand,
And wait his dread command;
And pains and dying groans obey
The signal of his hand.

3 With cruel force, he scatters round
His shafts of deadly pow'r ;

While the grave waits its destin'd prey,
Impatient to devour.

4 Look up, ye heirs of endless joy,
Nor let your fears prevail;
Eternal life is your reward,

When life on earth shall fail.

5 What though his darts, promiscuous hurl’d, Deal fatal plagues around; And heaps of putrid carcases

O'erload the cumber'd ground :

6 The arrows, that shall wound your flesh, Were giv'n him from above,

Dipt in the great Redeemer's blood,

And feather'd all with love.

7 These, with a gentle hand he throws,
And saints lie gasping too :

But heav'nly strength supports their souls,
And bears them conq'rors through.

HYMN 350. C. M.

Complaint and Hope under great Pain.

LORD, I am pain'd, but I resign

My body to thy will;

'Tis grace, 'tis wisdom all divine, Appoints the pains I feel.

2 Dark are the ways of Providence, While they who love thee groan;

Thy reasons lie conceal'd from sense,
Mysterious and unknown.

3 Yet nature may have leave to speak,
And plead before her God,

Lest the o'erburden'd heart should break
Beneath thine heavy rod.

4 These mournful groans and flowing tears,
Give my poor spirit ease;
While ev'ry groan my Father hears,
And ev'ry tear he sees.

5 [How shall I glorify my God,
In bonds of grief confin'd?
Damp'd is my vigor, while this clod
Hangs heavy on my mind.]
6 Is not some smiling hour at hand,
With peace upon its wings?
Give it, O God, thy swift command,
With all the joys it brings.

HYMN 351. C. M.

Praise for Recovery from Sickusss.
Psalm cxviii. 18, 19.

SOV'REIGN of life, I own thy hand
In ev'ry chast'ning stroke;

And while I smart beneath thy rod,
Thy presence I invoke.

2 To thee in my distress I cry'd,
And thou hast bow'd thine ear;
Thy pow'rful word my life prolong'd,
And brought salvation near.

3 Unfold, ye gates of righteousness,
That, with the pious throng,

I may record my solemn vows,
And tune my grateful song.

4 Praise to the Lord, whose gentle hand
Renews our lab'ring breath;

Praise to the Lord, who makes his saints
Triumphant e'en in death.

5 My God, in thine appointed hour,
Those heav'nly gates display,

Where pain and sin, and fear and death,
For ever flee away.

6 There, while the nations of the bless'd,
With raptures bow around,
My anthems to deliv'ring grace,
In sweeter strains shall sound.

HYMN 352. C. M.

Longing after unseen Pleasure.
2 Cor. iv. 18.

H, could our thoughts and wishes fly,
above these gloomy shades,

To those bright worlds beyond the sky,
Which sorrow ne'er invades !

2 There, joys unseen by mortal eyes,
Or reason's feeble ray,

In ever blooming prospects rise,
Unconscious of decay.

3 Lord, send a beam of light divine,
To guide our upward aim
With one reviving touch of thine,
Our languid hearts inflame.

4 Then shall, on faith's sublimest wing,
Our ardent wishes rise,

To those bright scenes, where pleasures spring, Immortal in the skies.

HYMN 353. L. M.

The Shortness of Time, and Frailty of Man.
Psalm xxxix.

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 of 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 mix'd with woe,
And dies, and leaves them all behind.
4 Oh, be a nobler portion mine;
My God, 1 bow before thy throne;
Earth's fleeting treasures I resign,
And fix my hopes on thee alone.

HYMN 354. C. M.

Death and Judgment appointed to all.
Heb. ix. 27.

EAV'N has confirm'd the great decree,
That Adam's race must die;

One gen'ral ruin sweeps them down,
And low in dust they lie.

2 Ye living men, the tomb survey,
Where you must quickly dwell;
Hark! how the awful summons sounds
In ev'ry fun'ral knell!

3 Once you must die, and once for all;
The solemn purport weigh;

For know, that heav'n or hell depends
On that important day.

4 Those eyes, so long in darkness veil'd,
Must wake the Judge to see,
And ev'ry word, and ev'ry thought,
Must pass his scrutiny.

5 Oh, may I in the Judge behold
My Saviour and my Friend;
And far beyond the reach of death,
With all his saints ascend.

OF

HYMN 355. L. M.

The Tolling Bell.

FT as the bell, with solemn toll, Speaks the departure of a soul, Let each one ask himself, "Am I Prepar'd, should I be call'd to die?" 2 Only this frail and fleeting breath Preserves me from the jaws of death; Soon as it fails, at once I'm gone, And plung'd into a world unknown. 3 Then, leaving all I lov'd below, To God's tribunal I must go; Must hear the Judge pronounce my fate, And fix my everlasting state.

4 LORD JESUS! help me now to flee, And seek my hope alone in thee; Apply thy blood, thy Spirit give, Subdue my sins, and let me live.

5 Then when the solemn bell I hear, If sav'd from guilt, I need not fear; Nor would the thought distressing be, Perhaps it next may toll for me.

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