2 Eternity! O what a pang! Eternity! no serpent's fang
Could send that thrill of terror.
When I revolve thy clanking chains,
Thy dark abyss of deathless pains,
My soul is fill'd with horror.
O search the universe around,
No equal terror can be found!
3 Awake, O man, from sinful sleep;
Bethink thyself, thou straying sheep,
Seek God by true repentance!
Awake, behold thy wasting sand,
Eternity is just at hand
And brings thine awful sentence. This is, perchance, thy final day: Who knows how soon he's snatch'd away?
4 Eternity! terrific word,
Within the heart a piercing sword!
Beginning without ending!
Eternity! unmeasur'd time!
I sink beneath the thought sublime
That I to thee am tending:
Lord Jesus, when it pleaseth thee,
Grant me thy blest eternity!
E sons of Adam, vain and young,
Indulge your eyes, indulge your tongue,
Taste the delights your souls desire,
And give a loose to all your fire:
2 Pursue the pleasures you design,
And cheer your hearts with songs and wine, Enjoy the day of mirth; but know
There is a day of judgment too.
3 God from on high beholds your thoughts,
His book records your secret faults;
The works of darkness you have done
Must all appear before the sun.
4 The vengeance to your follies due
Should strike your hearts with terror through:
How will ye stand before his face,
Or answer for his injur'd grace?
5 Almighty God, turn off their eyes
From these alluring vanities,
And let the thunder of thy word
Awake their souls to fear the Lord.
1 STOOP down, my thoughts, that us'd to rise, Converse awhile with death;
Think how a gasping mortal lies,
And pants away his breath.
2 His quiv'ring lip hangs feebly down,
His pulses faint and few,
Then, speechless, with a doleful groan
He bids the world adieu.
3 But, O! the soul that never dies!
At once it leaves the clay!
Ye thoughts, pursue it where it flies,
And track its wondrous way.
4 Up to the courts where angels dwell,
It mounts triumphing there,
Or devils plunge it down to hell
In infinite despair.
5 And must my body faint and die?
And must this soul remove?
O for some guardian angel nigh
To bear it safe above!
6 Jesus, to thy dear faithful hand
My naked soul I trust,
And my flesh waits for thy command
To drop into my dust.
THE AWAKENED SINNER.
A prayer for seriousness. P. M. 8.8.6.8.8.6.
1 THOU God of glorious majesty,
To thee, against myself, to thee,
A worm of earth, I cry;
A half-awaken'd child of man,
An heir of endless bliss or pain,
A sinner born to die!
2 Lo! on a narrow neck of land,
"Twixt two unbounded seas I stand,
Secure, insensible:
A point of time, a moment's space
Removes me to that heav'nly place,
Or shuts me up in hell.
3 O God, mine inmost soul convert!
And deeply on my thoughtful heart
Eternal things impress:
Give me to feel their solemn weight,
And tremble on the brink of fate,
And wake to righteousness.
4 Before me place in dread array
The pomp of that tremendous day
When thou with clouds shalt come
To judge the nations at thy bar;
And tell me, Lord, shall I be there
To meet a joyful doom?
5 Be this my one great bus'ness here,
With serious industry and fear
Eternal bliss t'insure:
Thine utmost counsel to fulfil,
And suffer all thy righteous will,
And to the end endure.
6 Then Savior, then, my soul receive,
Transported from this vale to live
And reign with thee above,
Where faith is sweetly lost in sight
And hope in full supreme delight
And everlasting love.
The true repentance.
LET me now repent!
With all my idols part;
And to thy gracious eye present
An humble contrite heart!
2 A heart with grief opprest,
For having griev'd my God;
A troubled heart that cannot rest.
Till sprinkled with thy blood!
3 Jesus, on me bestow
The penitent desire;
With true sincerity of woe
My aching breast inspire;
4 With soft'ning pity look,
And melt my hardness down;
Strike with thy love's resistless stroke,
And break this heart of stone!
FOR that tenderness of heart
Which bows before the Lord,
Acknowledges how just thou art,
And trembles at thy word!
20 for those humble contrite tears
Which from repentance flow,
That consciousness of guilt which fears
The long suspended blow!
3 Savior, to me in pity give
The sensible distress,
The pledge thou wilt at last receive,
And bid me die in peace;
4 Wilt from the dreadful day remove
Before the evil come,
My spirit hide with saints above,
My body in the tomb.
Prayer for a renewed heart.
FOR a heart to praise my God,
A heart from sin set free!
A heart that always feels thy blood,
So freely spilt for me!
2 A heart resign'd, submissive, meek,
My great Redeemer's throne;
Where only Christ is heard to speak,
Where Jesus reigns alone.
30 for a lowly, contrite heart,
Believing, true, and clean;
Which neither life nor death can part
From him that dwells within.
4 A heart in ev'ry thought renew'd,
And full of love divine;
Perfect, and right, and pure, and good,
A copy, Lord, of thine!
5 Thy nature, gracious Lord, impart,
Come quickly from above;
Write thy new name upon my heart,
Thy new, best name of love.
Prayer for penitence.
LET me now repent!
O let me now believe!
Thou, by whose voice the marble rent,
The rock in sunder cleave!
Thou, by the two-edg'd sword,
My soul and spirit part;
Strike with the hammer of thy word,
And break my stubborn heart.
2 Savior and Prince of peace,
The double grace bestow;
Unloose the bands of wickedness,
And let the captive go:
Grant me my sins to feel,
And then the load remove :
Wound, and pour in, my wounds to heal,
The balm of pard'ning love.
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