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The numbered hour is on the wing,
That lays thee with the dead.

4 Great God, afflict not, in thy wrath,
The short allotted span,

That bounds the few and weary days
Of pilgrimage to man.

HYMN 189. C. M.

HARK! from the tombs a mournful sound;

Mine ears attend the cry;

"Ye living men, come view the ground, "Where you must shortly lie.

2 "Princes, this clay must be your bed, "In spite of all your towers;

"The tall, the wise, the reverend head, "Must lie as low as ours."

3 Great God, is this our certain doom?
And are we still secure?

Still walking downward to the tomb,
And yet prepare no more?

4 Grant us the power of quickening grace,
To raise our souls to thee,

That we may view thy glorious face
To all eternity.

THE

HYMN 190. S. M.

Job, xiv. 11-14.

1HE mighty flood, that rolls
Its torrents to the main,
Can ne'er recall its waters lost
From that abyss again.

2 So days, and years, and time,
Descending down to night,
Can thenceforth never more return
Back to the sphere of light;-

3 And man, when in the grave,
Can never quit its gloom,

Until the eternal morn shall wake
The slumber of the tomb.

4 O! may I find, in death,
A hiding-place with God,

Secure from woe and sin, till called
To share his blessed abode.

5 Cheered by this hope, I wait,
Through toil, and care, and grief,
Till my appointed course is run,
And death shall bring relief.

HYMN 191.

1 ITAL spark of heavenly flame,
Quit, O! quit, this mortal frame!
Trembling, hoping, lingering, flying,
O! the pain, the bliss of dying!
Cease, fond nature, cease thy strife,
And let me languish into life.
2 Hark! they whisper; angels say,
"Sister spirit, come away."
What is this absorbs me quite,
Steals my senses, shuts my sight,
Drowns my spirit, draws my breath?
Tell me, my soul, can this be death?
3 The world recedes; it disappears;
Heaven opens on my eyes; my ears
With sounds seraphic ring!
Lend, lend your wings; I mount, I fly;
O grave, where is thy victory?
Ŏ death, where is thy sting?

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W

XII. JUDGMENT.

HYMN 192. C. M.

HEN, rising from the bed of death,
O'erwhelmed with guilt and fear,

I see my Maker, face to face,

O! how shall I appear?

2 If yet, while pardon may be found,
And mercy may be sought,

My heart with inward horror shrinks,
And trembles at the thought,-

3 When thou, O Lord, shalt stand disclosed

In majesty severe,

And sit in judgment on my soul,
O! how shall I appear!

4 But thou hast told the troubled mind,
Who does her sins lament,

That faith in Christ's atoning blood
Shall endless woe prevent.

5 Then never shall my soul despair,
Her pardon to procure,

1

Who knows thine only Son has died
To make that pardon sure.

HYMN 193. S. M.

AND will the Judge descend?

And must the dead arise?
And not a single soul escape
His all-discerning eyes?

2 And, from his righteous lips,

Shall this dread sentence sound,
And, through the numerous, guilty throng,
Spread black despair around?---

3" Depart from me, accursed,
"To everlasting flame,
"For rebel angels first prepared,
"Where mercy never came.

4 How will my heart endure

The terrors of that day,

When earth and heaven, before his face,
Astonished, shrink away?

5 But, ere the trumpet shakes
The mansions of the dead,
Hark! from the gospel's cheering sound,
What joyful tidings spread!

6 Ye sinners, seek his grace,

Whose wrath ye cannot bear;
Fly to the shelter of his cross,
And find salvation there.

7 So shall that curse remove,

By which the Saviour bled;
And the last awful day shall pour
His blessings on your head.
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HYMN 194. II. 7.

REAT GOD, what do I see and hear!
The end of things created!

The Judge of man I see appear,

On clouds of glory seated:

The trumpet sounds; the graves restore
The dead, which they contained before:
Prepare, my soul, to meet him.

2 The dead in Christ shall first arise,
At the last trumpet's sounding,
Caught up to meet him in the skies,
With joy their Lord surrounding:
No gloomy fears their souls dismay;
His presence sheds eternal day

On those prepared to meet him.
3 But sinners, filled with guilty fears,
Behold his wrath prevailing;

For they shall rise, and find their tears
And sighs are unavailing :

The day of grace is passed and gone;
Trembling they stand before the throne,
All unprepared to meet him.

4 Great God, what do I see and hear!
The end of things created!
The Judge of man I see appear,
On clouds of glory seated:
Beneath his cross I view the day,
When heaven and earth shall pass away,
And thus prepare to meet him.

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HYMN 195. III. 1.

St. Luke, xiii. 24-27.

EEK, my soul, the narrow gate;
Enter, ere it be too late;

Many ask to enter there,

When too late to offer prayer.

2 God from mercy's seat shall rise,
And for ever bar the skies:

Then, though sinners cry without,
He will say, "I know you not."
3 Mournfully will they exclaim,
"Lord, we have professed thy name;

1

"We have eat with thee, and heard "Heavenly teaching in thy word." 4 Vain, alas! will be their plea, Workers of iniquity;

Sad their everlasting lot;

Christ will say, "I know you not!"

10

XIII. ETERNITY.

HYMN 196. S. M.

WHERE shall rest be found,
Rest for the weary soul?

"Twere vain the ocean's depths to sound,

Or pierce to either pole.

2 The world can never give

The bliss, for which we sigh: 'Tis not the whole of life to live,

Nor all of death to die.

3 Beyond this vale of tears,
There is a life above,
Unmeasured by the flight of years—
And all that life is love.

4 There is a death, whose pang
Outlasts the fleeting breath:
O! what eternal horrors hang
Around the second death!

5 Lord God of truth and grace,
Teach us that death to shun,
Lest we be driven from thy face,
For evermore undone.

HOW

HYMN 197. C. M.

2 Cor. iv. 18.

OW long shall earth's alluring toys
Detain our hearts and eyes,

Regardless of immortal joys,

And strangers to the skies!

2 These transient scenes will soon decay;
They fade upon the sight;

And quickly will their brightest day
Be lost in endless night.