4 Ah! who can speak the vast dismay That fills the sinner's mind,

When, torn by death's strong hand away, He leaves his all behind?

5 Wretches who cleave to earthly things,
But are not rich to God,

Their dying hour is full of stings,
And hell their dark abode.

295 The Rich Man and Lazarus.
1 A WORLDLING spent each day
In luxury and state;

While a believer lay

A beggar at his gate.

148th.

Think not the Lord's appointment strange; Death made a great and lasting change. 2 Death brought the saint release

From want, disease, and scorn,

And to the land of peace

His soul, by angels borne,
In Abraham's bosom safely placed,
Enjoys an everlasting feast.
3 The rich man also died,

And in a moment fell

From all his pomp and pride
Into the flames of hell;
The beggar's bliss from far beheld,
His soul with double anguish filled.
4 Lord, make us truly wise

To choose Thy people's lot,
And earthly joys despise,
Which soon will be forgot :

The greatest evil we can fear,
Is to possess our portion here!

296

TIME.
Frailty of Man.

L. M.

1 ALMIGHTY Maker of my frame,
Teach me the measure of my days;
Teach me to know how frail I am,
And spend the remnant to Thy praise.
2 My days are shorter than a span;
A little point my life appears;
How frail at best is dying man!
How vain are all his hopes and fears!
3 Vain his ambition, noise, and show;
Vain are the cares which rack his mind;
He heaps up treasures mixed with woe,
He dies, and leaves them all behind.
4 O be a nobler portion mine!

Lord, may I bow before Thy throne,
Earth's fleeting treasures there resign,
And fix my hope on Thee alone.

297

Deceptive Pursuits.

1 A SPAN is all that we can boast, An inch or two of time;

Man is but vanity and dust

In all his flower and prime.
2 See the vain race of mortals move
Like shadows o'er the plain;
They rage and strive, desire and love,
But all their noise is vain.

C.M.

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;

298

And all whom He by grace makes wise
Shall share His rich reward.

'For ever and ever.'

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.

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,

7's.

C.M.

The gay, the thoughtless, I have seen,
I passed-and they were gone.

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.

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, he blighted fell),
Hear the lesson we are reading;
Mark the awful truth we tell.

8.7.

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!

301

This alone, for ever vernal,

Bears a leaf that shall not fade.

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,

C.M.

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.

302

The moment when our lives begin,
We then begin to die.

Death Near.

1 ETERNAL God, give me to know The dangerous path in which I go; For, as Thy servant David saith,

L.M.

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;