TIME AND ETERNITY.

WATCH-NIGHT.

1047

A solemn vigil.

OW many pass the guilty night

HOW

1st P. M. 6 lines 8s.

The creature is their sole delight—

Their happiness the things of earth:
For us suffice the season past:
We choose the better part at last.
2 We will not close our wakeful eyes,
We will not let our eyelids sleep,
But humbly lift them to the skies,
And all a solemn vigil keep;
So many nights on sin bestow'd,
Can we not watch one hour for God?

3 We can, O Jesus, for thy sake, Devote our every hour to thee; Speak but the word, our souls shall wake, And sing with cheerful melody: Thy praise shall our glad tongues employ, And every heart shall dance for joy. 4 Blest object of our faith and love,

We listen for thy welcome voice; Our persons and our works approve,

And bid us in thy strength rejoice; Now let us hear the mighty cry, And shout to find the Bridegroom nigh. 5 Shout in the midst of us, O King

Of saints, and let our joys abound;
Let us rejoice, give thanks, and sing,

And triumph in redemption found:
We ask in faith for every soul;
O let our glorious joy be full!

60 may we all triumphant rise; With joy upon our heads return; And far above these nether skies,

By thee on eagles' wings upborne, Through all yon radiant circles move, And gain the highest heaven of love. 1048 1st P. M. 6 lines 8s.

A living sacrifice unto the Lord.

ISDOM ascribe, and might, and praise,

out our

Who spares us yet another year,
And makes us see his goodness here:
O may we all the time redeem,
And henceforth live and die to him!

2 How often, when his arm was bared,
Hath he our sinful Israel spared;
Let me alone, his mercy cried,
And turn'd the vengeful bolt aside;
Indulged another kind reprieve,
And strangely suffer'd us to live.
3 Merciful God, how shall we raise
Our hearts to pay thee all thy praise?
Our hearts shall beat for thee alone;
Our lives shall make thy goodness known;
Our souls and bodies shall be thine,
A living sacrifice divine.

1049

C. M.

A midnight song.

JOIN, all ye ransom'd sons of grace,

The prolong, And shout to the Redeemer's praise

A solemn midnight song.

2 Blessing, and thanks, and love, and might,

Be to our Jesus given,

Who turns our darkness into light,
Who turns our hell to heaven.

3 Thither our faithful souls he leads;
Thither he bids us rise,
With crowns of joy upon our heads,
To meet Him in the skies.

1050

3d P. M. 4 6s & 2 8s.
The Bridegroom cometh.
E virgin souls, arise;
With all the dead, awake;
Unto salvation wise,

Oil in your vessels take:
Upstarting at the midnight cry-
Behold the heavenly Bridegroom nigh!
2 He comes, he comes, to call
The nations to his bar,
And take to glory all

Who meet for glory are:
Made ready for your full reward;
Go forth with joy to meet your Lord.

3 Go, meet him in the sky,
Your everlasting Friend;
Your Head to glorify,

With all his saints ascend:
Ye
pure in heart, obtain the grace
To see, without a veil, his face.
4 The everlasting doors

Shall soon the saints receive,
With seraphs, thrones, and powers,
In glorious joy to live;
Far from a world of grief and sin,
With God eternally shut in.

5 Then let us wait to hear
The trumpet's welcome sound:
To see our Lord appear,

May we be watching found: And when thou dost the heavens bow, Be found-as, Lord, thou find'st us now.

1051

11th P. M. 76, 76, 77, 76. The midnight cry.

EARKEN to the solemn voice, awful midnight cry; Waiting souls, rejoice, rejoice,

And see the Bridegroom nigh: Lo, he comes to keep his word;

Light and joy his looks impart; Go ye forth to meet your Lord,

And meet him in your heart. 2. Ye who faint beneath the load

Of sin, your heads lift up; See your great redeeming God;

He comes, and bids you hope. In the midnight of your grief,

Jesus doth his mourners cheer; Lo, he brings you sure relief; Believe, and feel him here.

1052

7th P. M. 8 lines 7s. Retrospect of a year.

ILE, with ceaseless course, the sun Hasted through the former year, Many souls their race have run,

Never more to meet us here: Fix'd in an eternal state,

They have done with all below; We a little longer wait,

But how little-none can know.

2 As the winged arrow flies Speedily the mark to find; As the lightning from the skies

Darts, and leaves no trace behind,-
Swiftly thus our fleeting days

Bear us down life's rapid stream;
Upward, Lord, our spirits raise ;
All below is but a dream.

3 Thanks for mercies past receive;
Pardon of our sins renew;
Teach us henceforth how to live
With eternity in view:
Bless thy word to young and old;
Fill us with a Saviour's love;
And when life's short tale is told,
May we reign with thee above.

NEW-YEAR.

18th P. M. 10, 5, 11.

1053

Coll round with the year,

OME, let us anew our journey pursue,

COM

And never stand still till the Master appear.

His adorable will let us gladly fulfil,
And our talents improve,

By the patience of hope, and the labour of love.

Renewed fidelity and zeal.

2 Our life is a dream; our time, as a stream, Glides swiftly away,

And the fugitive moment refuses to stay.
The arrow is flown,-the moment is gone;
The millennial year

Rushes on to our view, and eternity's here.

3 0 that each, in the day of His coming, may say,

I have fought my way through;

I have finish'd the work thou didst give me to do. O that each from his Lord may receive the glad word,

Well and faithfully done!

Enter into my joy, and sit down on my throne.