202.

L. M.

DODDRIDGE.

"One Thing is needful."

1. WHY should we lavish out our years
Amidst a thousand trifling cares,

While, in this various range of thought,
The one thing needful is forgot?

2 Why should we chase the fleeting wind And famish an immortal mind,

While angels look with sorrow down
To see us spurn the heavenly crown?
3 The Eternal God calls from above,
The Savior pleads his dying love,
Awakened conscience gives us pain;
And shall these pleas unite in vain?
4 Not so the dying eye shall view
The pleasures which we now pursue;
Not so eternity appear

When the decisive hour is near.

5 Almighty Power, thine aid impart
To fix conviction on the heart:

Thy power unveils the blindest eyes,
And makes the haughtiest scorner wise.

203.

S. M.

Doddridge.

Uncertainty of Life.

1 TO-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;
O, make thy servants truly wise,
That they may live to-day.

3 One thing demands our care;
O, be it still pursued,

Lest, slighted once, the season fair
Should never be renewed.

4 To Jesus may we fly

Swift as the morning light,

Lest life's young golden beams should die, In sudden, endless night.

204.

C. M. WATTS.

Frail Life and succeeding Eternity.

1 THEE we adore, eternal name,
And humbly own to thee
How feeble is our mortal frame:
What dying worms are we!

2 Our wasting lives grow shorter still,
As months and days increase;
And every beating pulse we tell
Leaves but the number less.

3 Dangers stand thick through all the ground, To push us to the tomb;

And fierce diseases wait around,
To hurry mortals home.

4 Waken, O Lord, our drowsy sense
To walk this dangerous road;
And, if our souls are hurried hence,
May they be found with God.

1 BENEATH our feet and o'er our head
Is equal warning given;

Beneath us lie the countless dead,
Above us is the heaven.

2 Their names are graven on the stone,
Their bones are in the clay;
And ere another day is done,
Ourselves may be as they.

3 Death rides on every passing breeze;
He lurks in every flower;

Each season has its own disease,
Its peril every hour.

4 Our eyes have seen the rosy light
Of youth's soft cheek decay,

And death descend in sudden night,
On manhood's middle day.

5 Our eyes have seen the steps of age
Halt feebly towards the tomb;
And yet shall earth our hearts engage,
And dreams of days to come?

6 Turn, mortal, turn! thy danger know!
Where'er thy foot can tread,

The earth rings hollow from below,
And warns thee of her dead.

206.

8 & 4s M.

ANONYMOUS.

Vanity of the World.

1 ALAS! how poor and little worth
Are all those glittering toys of earth
That lure us here! -

Dreams of a sleep that death must break:
Alas! before it bids us wake,

They disappear.

2 Where is the strength that spurned decay,
The step that rolled so light and gay,
The heart's blithe tone?

The strength is gone, the step is slow,
And joy grows weariness and woe
When age comes on.

3 Our birth is but a starting-place;
Life is the running of the race,
And death the goal:

There all those glittering toys are brought;
That path alone, of all unsought,
Is found of all.

4 O, let the soul its slumbers break,
Arouse its senses, and awake
To see how soon

Life, like its glories, glides away,
And the stern footsteps of decay
Come stealing on.

207.

L. M.

J. TAYLOR.

True Length of Life.

1 LIKE shadows gliding o'er the plain, Or clouds that roll successive on, Man's busy generations pass;

And while we gaze, their forms are gone.

2 "He lived, - he died;" behold the sum,
The abstract of th' historian's page!
Alike, in God's all-seeing eye,
The infant's day, the patriarch's age.

3 O Father, in whose mighty hand
The boundless years and ages lie,
Teach us thy boon of life to prize,
And use the moments as they fly; ·

4 To crowd the narrow span of life

With wise designs and virtuous deeds:
So shall we wake from death's dark night,
To share the glory that succeeds.

"Blessed are they that mourn.”

1 DEEM not that they are blest alone,
Whose days a peaceful tenor keep;
The God who loves our race has shown
A blessing for the eyes that weep.

2 The light of smiles shall fill again
The lids that overflow with tears,
And weary hours of woe and pain
Are earnests of serener years.

3 0, there are days of hope and rest
For every dark and troubled night!
And grief may bide an evening guest,
But joy shall come with early light.

4 And thou, who o'er thy friend's low bier,
Dost shed the bitter drops like rain,
Hope that a brighter, happier sphere,
Will give him to thy arms again.

5 Nor let the good man's trust depart,
Though life its common gifts deny;
Though with a pierced and broken heart,
And spurned of men, he goes to die.

6 For God hath marked each anguished day, And numbered every secret tear;

And heaven's long age of bliss shall pay For all his children suffer here.