A joy springs up amid distress,
A fountain in the wilderness.

2 O, to be brought to Jesus' feet,
Though trials fix me there,
Is still a privilege most sweet,
For he will hear my prayer;
Though sighs and tears its language be,
The Lord is nigh to answer me.

3 0, blesséd be the hand that gave,
Still blessed when it takes;

Blessed be He who smites to save,

Who heals the heart he breaks: Perfect and true are all his ways, Whom heaven adores and death obeys.

195.

L. M. 61.

H. WARE, JR.

[Written in Sickness, March, 1836.]

Prayer for Peace in God.

1 FATHER, thy gentle chastisement
Falls kindly on my burdened soul;
I see its merciful intent,

To warn me back to thy control,
And pray, that while I kiss the rod,
I may find perfect peace with God.
2 The errors of my heart I know;
I feel my deep infirmities;
For often virtuous feelings glow,
And holy purposes arise,

But like the morning clouds decay,
As empty, though as fair, as they.
3 Forgive the weakness I deplore,
And let thy peace abound in me,
That I may trust myself no more,
But wholly cast myself on thee.
O, let my Father's strength be mine,
And my devoted life be thine.

196.

7 & 6s M.

RIPPON'S COL.

The Soul aspiring to Heaven.

1 RISE, my soul, and stretch thy wings;
Thy better portion trace;
Rise from transitory things,

Towards heaven, thy native place.
Sun, and moon, and stars decay;
Time shall soon this earth remove;
Rise, my soul, and haste away
To seats prepared above.

2 Rivers to the ocean run,

Nor stay in all their course;
Fire, ascending, seeks the sun;
Both speed them to their source.
So a soul that's born of God
Pants to view his glorious face;
Upward tends to his abode,
To rest in his embrace.

Heavenly Joy on Earth.

1 COME, we that love the Lord,
And let our joys be known;
Join in a song with sweet accord,
And thus surround the throne.

2 The sorrows of the mind

Be banished from the place:
Religion never was designed
To make our pleasures less.

3 The men of grace have found
Glory begun below;

Celestial fruits, on earthly ground,
From faith and hope may grow.

4 Then let our songs abound, And every tear be dry:

We're marching through Immanuel's ground, To fairer worlds on high.

198.

C. M.

WESLEY'S COL.

The Saint's Rest.

1 LORD, I believe a rest remains,
To all thy people known—
A rest where pure enjoyment reigns,
And thou art loved alone;

2 A rest, where all our soul's desire
Is fixed on things above;

Where fear, and sin, and grief expire,
Cast out by perfect love.

3 O that I now the rest might know,
Believe, and enter in!

Now, Father, now the power bestow,
And let me cease from sin!

4 Remove all hardness from my heart;
All unbelief remove;

To me the rest of faith impart,
The Sabbath of thy love.

199. L. M.

ANONYMOUS.

Memory of the Past.

1 How blest is he whose tranquil mind,
When life declines, recalls again
The years that time has cast behind,
And reaps delight from toil and pain!

2 So, when the transient storm is past,
The sudden gloom and driving shower,
The sweetest sunshine is the last;
The loveliest is the evening hour.

200.

11s M.

CUNNINGHAM.

"Are they not all ministering Spirits?"

1 How cheering the thought, that the spirits in bliss Will bow their bright wings to a world such as this, Will leave the sweet joys of the mansions above, To breathe o'er our bosoms some message of love!

2 They come, on the wings of the morning they

come,

Impatient to lead some poor wanderer home, Some pilgrim to snatch from this stormy abode, And lay him to rest in the arms of his God.

249

LIFE, DEATH, AND FUTURITY.

201.

L. M.

DODDRIDGE.

The Wisdom of redeeming Time.

1 GOD of eternity, from thee

Did infant Time his being draw:
Moments and days, and months and years,
Revolve by thine unvaried law.

2 Silent and swift they glide away:
Steady and strong the current flows,
Lost in eternity's wide sea,

The boundless gulf from which it rose.

3 With it the thoughtless sons of men Before the rapid stream are borne On to their everlasting home,

1

Whence not one soul can e'er return.

4 Yet while the shore on either side
Presents a gaudy, flattering show,
We gaze, in fond amusement lost,
Nor think to what a world we go.

5 Great Source of wisdom, teach our hearts
To know the price of every hour,
That time may bear us on to joys
Beyond its measure and its power.