Devout breathings of the soul to God, in hymns and spiritual songs

2 The infant weak, the vig'rous youth,
The hoary head alike muft bow;

Let none forget God's word is truth" !
Which bids us all make ready now.

3 Juft as we fall, fo muft we lie",-
There's no repentance in the grave* ;-
If in our fins at last we die,
We certain mifery fhall have...

4 The RIGHTEOUS JUDGE will foon appearb
In pomp upon his azure throne;
And caufe all nations to be there;
None can stay from his bar, not oné!

What horrord then will overtake
And pierce the guilty finner's breaft;
Whofe lot muft in that burning lake
Be where the damn'd can find no reft!

6 But hout, ye righteous fons of God,-
Heirs and joint-heirs with Christ above!
You need not fear the dreadful rod1,
But fing of your Redeemer's love.

7 In glorious hope of joys unknown,
With hallelujah's fing his praise;
And with the angels round his throne*,
Now your glad hearts and voices raise.

8 Begin in never-ending fongs,
And look beyond this veil of clay':
To God alone all praife belongs;
can

his

(v) Matt. xxiv. 44.Luke xii. 40. (x) Eccl. ix. 10. (y) John viii. 21. (a) 2 Tim. iv. 8. (b) Matt. xxv. ZI, &c.— (c) Rom. xiv. 10, 11, 12.-2 Cor, v. 10.—Rev. xx. 12. (e) Rev. xx. 15-xxi. 8. - (f) Rev. xiv. 10, 11. 1.-lfa. xii. 6.-xlii. 11.-xliv. 23.-Zeph. iii. 14. (h) Rom. viii. 17. - (i) Pfal. ii. 9. (j) Rev. xix. (k) Rev, v. 11, &c. (1) Heb. x. 20.

(u) John xvii. 17. (w) Eccl. xi. 3. (2) Pfal. ix. 17. 2 Tim. iv. 1, (d) Pfal. xi. 6. (g) Pfal. xlvii. -Zech. ix. 9. *, 3, 4, 6.

What cherub voice, or feraph tongue
Can half defcribe his worthy name?
Eternity! though broad and long,
Is all too fhort to spread his fame!

CCXLVI.

On Death.

Fatal hand of death!t how foon

Is wit, and strength, and beauty gone?
Whom God requires they are cut down",-
(However dear) thou fpareth none.
2 Youth, in an inftant, like a flower
When fcorched up with burning heat,
Doth fade and wither in an hour;
And aged men the fame fate meet".
3 What need have we frail mortals then
Our fitness for that ftate to try:

Since none can tell how, where, or when,
Or in what manner they must die.

4 Come help us to examine, Lord,
With care into our prefent ftate,
To watch, and pray, and fearch thy word,
And for thy coming' duly wait.

5 May thy rich grace be freely giv❜n,
And facred love fill ev'ry breaft:
At laft, O let us meet in heav'n,
To be with God for ever bleft..

(0) Pfal. xxxix, 4. (r) Matt. xvi. 27.

After burying my firft-born, I was again bleffed with two fons and three daughters; but on the 12th day of the 8th month, 1791, the Lord was pleafed to call away my youngest fon, named LUKE PEEL, when in the third year of his age: He was a ftout, comely boy, and remarkable witty. Thefe five verfes were the refult of my ferious reflections, and they were fung before his corpfe to the grave.

CCLXVII.

DEATH, a welcome Messenger to the Righteous.

THE

HEE we adore, O God moft Hight!'
And humbly praife thy name;
With all the hoft" above the sky
Thy goodnefs we proclaim.

2 For though we with our friends must part,
And all things here below,
Death can't disjoin thofe who in heart
Do their Redeemer know.

3 They meet him as a welcome friend",
Which joyful tidings bring

For all their fears are at an end
When death hath loft his fting*,

4 They with the Fathers fall afleepy
Among their kindred duft;
And at Chrift's coming, they fhall reap
The portion of the juft.-

When he defcendeth from above
In glorious majefty,

Then all who bear his mark of love
Shall his attendants bec.

6 They, in white robesd, made all divine-
Shall unknown joye explore;

And as the fun in glory shinef
With God for evermore.

7 Then, Lord, preferve us all our days, Till this great change shall come From fin's deftructive evil ways,

And then conduct us home.

(t) Pfal. Ivii. 2. (u) Gen. ii. 1.-Luke ii. 13.

(v) Rom. viii

35,

39. (w) 2 Tim. iv. 6, - - - 8. (x) 1 Cor. xv. 55,- - 57. (y) 1 Kings ii. 10.-xi. 43. (z) Gen. iii. 19. (a) Matt. xvi. 27: (b) 1 Thef. iv. 16. (c) Jude 14. (d) Rev. iii. 4.vii. 9, 13, 146 (e) 1. Cor. ii. 9. (f) Matt. xiii. 43.

8688

CCXLVIII.

Solemn thoughts on the neceffity of preparing for DEATH and a future State.

of the

Both here and when they're gone to reft; 8

But men who do and evil plot,
'Their names fhall be caft out and rot.

2 It therefore well behoves mankind
To feek, till each God's favour find;
For lo, how mortals ev'ry day
From earth are swiftly fnatch'd away.

3 And fince none knows who next fhall have

To be fhut up within the grave,
Let each one think, this day may be
Perhaps the laft I here fhall fee.

4 Let each confider how foon deathi
Doth fometimes ftop an infant's breath;
And how his icy hand doth flay
The blooming youth when brisk and gay.

5 And let us view the hoary hairs,
Where age
itself at once declares

A certain change will foon take place
With all the fons of Adam's race.

6 Amidft these thoughts, let each one think, And afk, "Am I on ruin's brink?

"Or, do I know my fins forgiv'n?
"And am I now prepar'd for heav'n?".

Thus let us each one try to tell
Whither we fteer for heav'n or hell;
For those who die in fin1 will prove,
None can be happy without LOVETM.

1g) Prov. x. 7. Heb. ix. 27. ) John viii. 21.

(h) Jam. iv. 14. (i) Job xiv. 1, 2, (j) Luke i. 77.-1 Cor. iii. 16. (k) 2 Cor. xiii. 5. (m) John iii. 14, 15.-iv. 7,

--24.

8 But where love‡ is, there life abounds;
And when the laft great trumpet founds",
The dead in Chrift fhall all arife
To meet him coming in the skies!

CCXLXIX.

The Bleffed State of those who DIE In the Lord.

FOR

OR ever bleffed are the dead",
Which dieth in

the Lord;

For fo, faith Chrift, their living HEAD",
In his unerring word!

2 Their works do follow when they're gone,
To teftify above;

Where they declare before God's throne
The wonders of his love!

3 And lo! while they are bleffed, thus Around his thrones in heav'n,

They cry all praise, "Not unto us, "But to thy name be giv'n."

And worthy is the Lamb! they fay,
Who for our fins was flain;

For God hath wip'd their tears away,
And with himself they reign.