3 Some walk in fame's deceiving show,

Some dig for golden ore ;
They toil for heirs they know not who,

And then are seen no more.
4 But Wisdom holds a precious prize

For all who fear the Lord ;
And all whom He by grace makes wise

Shall share His rich reward. 298 For ever and ever.'

7's. 1 Days and years glide swiftly by ;

Time will soon be past with me;
Then, like all mankind, must I

Enter on-eternity.
2 What an awful thought !-the grave

Will these active limbs contain,
There to moulder--none can save ;

Man, or angel's help, how vain ! 3 But my soul will still survive,Death can never reach the soul ;

; Doomed in bliss or woe to live,

While eternal ages roll. 299

Life Fading.
1 LIKE crowded forest-trees we stand,

And some are marked to fall;
The axe will smite at God's command,

And soon shall smite us all.
2 Green as the bay-tree, ever green,

With its new foliage on,
The gay, the thoughtless, I have seen,

I passed—and they were gone.

C.M.

3 No present health can health ensure

For yet an hour to come ;
No medicine, though it often cure,

Can always baulk the tomb.
4 Read, ye that run, the solemn truth,

Taught by the sacred page :
A worm is in the bud of youth,

And at the root of age. 300 The Falling Leaves. 8.7. I SEE the leaves around us falling,

Dry and withered, to the ground;
Thus to thoughtless mortals calling,

In a sad and solemn sound : 2 “Sons of Adam (once in Eden,

Where, like us, be blighted fell),
Hear the lesson we are reading;

Mark the awful truth we teil.
3 'Youth, on length of days presuming,

Who the paths of pleasure tread,
View us, late in beauty blooming,

Numbered now among the dead.
4. What though yet no losses grieve you,

Gay with health and many a grace,
Let not cloudless skies deceive you ;

Summer gives to autumn place.
5 Yearly in our course returning,

Messengers of shortest stay,
Thus we preach, this truth concerning,

Heaven and earth shall pass away.'
6 On the tree of life eternal

O inay all our hopes be laid !

a

C.M.

This alone, for ever ve

vernal,
Bears a leaf that shall not fade.
301 Shortness of Time.
1 TIME! what an empty vapour 'tis !

And days, how swift they are!
Swift, as an Indian arrow flies,

Or like a shooting star.
2 The present moments just appear,

Then glide away in haste,
That we can never say, 'They're here,'

But only say, “They're past.
3 Our life is ever on the wing ;

And death is ever nigh.
The moment when our lives begin,

We then begin to die. 302

Death Near.
1 ETERNAL God, give me to know

The dangerous path in which I go ;
For, as Thy servant David saith,

• There's but a step 'twixt me and death.' 2 Remove my guilt, all-gracious God,

And wash me in the Saviour's blood;
Inspire my soul with heavenly breath :

• There's but a step 'twixt me and death.' 3 Some of my precious time is gone ;

My sands, perhaps, are almost run ;
This night the Lord may stop my breath :

• There's but a step 'twixt me and death. 4 Others are gone, and we must go ;

We know not when-it may be now ;

L. M. C.M.

For every soul departed saith,

There's but a step 'twixt me and death.' 303 The Soul Immortal. - 1 THE grave is not a place of rest,

As unbelievers teach,
Where grief can never win a tear,

Nor sorrow ever reach.
2 The

eye

that shed the tear is closed ;
The heaving breast is cold ;
But that which suffers and enjoys,

No narrow grave can hold.
3 The mould'ring earth and hungry worm

The dust they lent may claim ;
But the enduring spirit lives

Eternally the same.
304
Time Fleeting.

C.M. 1 SWIFT as the winged arrow flies,

My time is hast'ning on;
Quick as the lightning from the skies,

My wasting moments run.
2 My follies past, O God ! forgive,

My ev'ry sin subdue,
And teach me henceforth how to live,

With glory in my view.
3 'Twere better I had not been born,

Than live without Thy fear ;
For they are wretched and forlorn

Who have their portion here.
4 Swiftly another year has gone ;

My heart to Thee incline,

1

C.M.

That so I may, when time is done,

Be, Lord, for ever Thine. 305

Eternity. 1 How long sometimes a day appears,

And weeks, how long are they ! Months move as slow as if the years

Would never pass away. 2 But months and years are passing by,

And soon must all be gone ; For day by day, as minutes fly,

Eternity comes on. 3 Days, months, and years must have an end;

Eternity has none; 'Twill always have as long to spend

As when it first begun !
4 Great God, we children cannot tell

How such a thing can be ;
But do Thou grant that we may dwell

That long, long time with Thee.
306 Close of the Year.
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 slow they glide away,

Steady and strong the current flows;
Lost in eternity's wide sea,

The boundless gulf from whence it rose. 3 With it the thoughtless sons of men

Before the rapid stream are borne,