But flee from the valley of tears,
I shall never return;
My days are all vanish'd away,
Broke off the designs of my heart
No longer on earth I delay,
Or linger as loth to depart.
2 My days are extinguish'd and gone-
My time as a shadow is fled,
And gladly I lay myself down
To rest with the peaceable dead: The dead ever-living attend,
Whose dust is all safe in the tomb, And many a glorifi'd friend
Is ready to welcome me home.
HYMN 579. L. M.
ETERNITY is just at hand!
And shall I waste my ebbing sand ;
And careless view departing day,
And throw my inch of time away?
2 But an eternity there is
Of endless wo, or endless bliss ;
And swift as time fulfils its round,
We to eternity are bound.
3 What countless millions of mankind
Have left this fleeting world behind!
They're gone! but where?—ah, pause
4 Sinner! canst thou forever dwell
In all the fiery deeps of hell;
And is death nothing, then to thee;
Death, and a dread eternity?
HYMN 580. C. P. M. C. WESLEY. ILO on a narrow neck of land,
"Twixt two unbounded seas I stand
- Yet how insensible !
A point of time-a moment's space-
Removes me to yon heav'nly place,
Or-shuts me up in hell!
2 O God, my inmost soul convert,
And deeply on my thoughtless heart,
Eternal things impress;
Give me to feel their solemn weight,
And save me, ere it be too late-
Wake me to righteousness.
3 Before me place, in bright 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?
4 Be this my one great business here,
With holy trembling, holy fear,
To make my calling sure!
Thine utmost counsel to fulfil,
And suffer all thy righteous will,
And to the end endure!
1 HE winter past, reviving flowers
Anew shall paint the plain;
The woods shall hear the voice of Spring,
And flourish green again.
2 Shall man depart this earthly scene,
Ah! never to return!-
No second Spring of life revive
The ashes of the urn!-
3' Shall life revisit dying worms,
And spread the insect's wing?
And oh shall man awake no more,
The Saviour's name to sing?
4 'Cease—all ye vain desponding fears;
When Christ from darkness sprang,
Death, the last foe, was captive led,
And heav'n with praises rang.
5 The trump shall sound;-the gates of death Shall make his children way;
From the cold tomb the slumb'rers spring, And shine in endless day.'
Tmid the deep'ning gloom,
HRO' sorrow's night and danger's path,
We, soldiers of an injur'd King,
Are marching to the tomb.
2 There, when the turmoil is no more,
And all our pow'rs decay,
Our cold remains, in solitude,
Shall sleep the years away.
3 Our labors done, securely laid
In this our last retreat,
Unheeded, o'er our silent dust,
The storms of life shall beat.
4 These ashes poor, this little dust,
Our Father's care shall keep,
Till the last angel rise, and break
The long and dreary sleep.
5 Then love's soft dew o'er ev'ry eye
Shall shed its mildest rays,
And the long silent dust shall burst
With shouts of endless praise.
HYMN 583. L. M.、
1 THE saints, who now in Jesus sleep, His own almighty pow'r shall keep,
Till dawns the bright illustrious day,
When death itself shall die away.
2 How loud shall our glad voices sing,
When Christ his risen saints shall bring
From beds of dust, and sleeping clay,
To realms of everlasting day!
3 When Jesus we in glory meet,
Our utmost joys shall be complete ;
When landed on that heav'nly shore,
Death and the curse shall be no more.
HYMN 584. L. M.
1 UR life how short! a groan, a sigh ; We live and then begin to die:
But Oh! how great a mercy this,
That death's a portal into bliss!
2 My soul! death swallows up thy fears,
My grave-clothes wipe away all tears;
Why should we fear this parting pain,
Who die, that we may live again?
3 Oh! how the resurrection light
Will clarify believer's sight;
How joyful will the saints arise,
And rub the dust from off their eyes!
4 My soul, my body I will trust,
With him who numbers every dust;
My Saviour faithfully will keep
His own-their death is but a sleep
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