3 We ask not honors, which an hour
May bring and take away ;

We ask not pleasure, pomp, and power,
Lest we should go astray.

4 We ask for wisdom;-Lord, impart
The knowledge how to live;
A wise and understanding heart
To all before thee give.

5 The young remember thee in youth,
Before the evil days!

The old be guided by thy truth
In wisdom's pleasant ways!

402.

L. M.

ANONYMOUS.

Agur's Wish.

1 THUS Agur breathed his warm desire-
My God, two favors I require;
In neither my request deny,
Vouchsafe them both before I die :-

:

2 Far from my heart and tents exclude
Those enemies to all that 's good,―
Folly, whose pleasures end in death,
And Falsehood's pestilential breath.

3 'Be neither wealth nor want my lot;
Below the dome, above the cot,
Let me my life unanxious lead,
And know not luxury nor need.'

4 Those wishes, Lord, we make our own; O, shed in moderation down

Thy bounties, till this mortal breath,
Expiring, tunes thy praise in death!

5 But, shouldst thou large possessions give,
May we with thankfulness receive
Th' abundance-still our God adore,
And bless the needy from our store!

6 Or, should we feel the pains of want,Submission, resignation, grant;

Till thou shalt send the wished supply,
Or call us to the bliss on high.

403.

C. M.

WATTS.

The Aged Christian's Prayer. Ps. 71.

1 GOD of my childhood and my youth,
The guide of all my days!

I have declared thy heavenly truth,
And told thy wondrous ways.

2 Wilt thou forsake my hoary hairs,
And leave my fainting heart?
Who shall sustain my sinking years
If God my strength depart?

3 Let me thy power and truth proclaim
To the surviving age,
And leave a savor of thy name
When I shall quit the stage.

4 The land of silence and of death
Attends my next remove;

may these poor remains of breath
Teach the wide world thy love!

5 By long experience have I known
Thy sovereign power to save;
At thy command I venture down
Securely to the grave.

6 When I lie buried deep in dust,
My flesh shall be thy care;

These withering limbs with thee I trust,
To raise them strong and fair.

404.

C. M.

T. HUMPHRIES.

'Lord, remember Me.'

10 THOU, from whom all goodness flows, I lift my soul to thee;

In all my sorrows, conflicts, woes,
Good Lord, remember me.

2 When on my aching, burdened heart
My sins lie heavily,

Thy pardon grant, new peace impart ;
Good Lord, remember me.

3 When trials sore obstruct my way,
And ills I cannot flee,

O let my strength be as my day;
Good Lord, remember me.

4 When worn with pain, disease, and grief, This feeble body see;

Grant patience, rest, and kind relief;
Good Lord, remember me.

5 When in the solemn hour of death
I wait thy just decree,

Be this the prayer of my last breath,—
Good Lord, remember me.

6 And when before thy throne I stand,
And lift my soul to thee,

Then, with the saints at thy right hand,
Good Lord, remember me.

THE CHRISTIAN CHARACTER, GRACES, &c.

405.

L. M.

*WATTS.

The Beatitudes.

1 BLEST are the men of broken heart,
Who mourn for sin with inward smart;
The love of Christ divinely flows,
A healing balm for all their woes.

2 Blest are the meek, who stand afar

From rage and passion, noise and war;
God will secure their happy state,

And plead their cause against the great.

3 Blest are the souls that thirst for grace,
Hunger and long for righteousness;
They shall be well supplied and fed
With living streams and living bread.

4 Blest are the pure, whose hearts are clean From the defiling power of sin;

With endless pleasure they shall see
A God of spotless purity.

5 Blest are the men of peaceful life,
Who quench the coals of growing strife;
They shall be called the heirs of bliss,
The sons of God, the God of peace.

6 Blest are the sufferers, who partake
Of pain and shame for Jesus' sake;
Their souls shall triumph in the Lord,
Glory and joy are their reward.

406.

L. M.

WATTS.

God dwells with the Humble and Contrite.

1 THUS saith the high and lofty One,
I sit upon my holy throne;
My name is God, I dwell on high,
Dwell in my own eternity!

2 But I descend to worlds below!—
On earth I have a mansion too;
The humble spirit and contrite
Is an abode of my delight.

3 'The humble soul

my words revive;
I bid the mourning sinner live;
Heal all the broken hearts I find,
And ease the sorrows of the mind.

4 'When I contend against their sin,
I make them know how vile they've been;
But should my wrath forever smoke,
Their souls would sink beneath my stroke.'

5 0 may thy pardoning grace be nigh,
Lest we should faint, despair, and die ;
Thus shall our better thoughts approve
The methods of thy chastening love.