2.

Silent, but fleet, they glide away;
Steady and strong the current flows,
Lost in eternity's vast sea,

The boundless gulf from which it rose.

3.

The thoughtless tribes of mortal men
Before the rapid stream are borne
On to their everlasting home,

The country whence there's no return.

4.

Great Source of wisdom! teach our hearts
To know the worth of every hour;
That time may bear us on to joys
Beyond its measure and its power.

155. C. M.

The Blessing of God implored on the
Labours of Life.

1.

SHINE on our souls, eternal GOD!
With rays of favour shine;

Oh let thy mercy crown our days,
And their whole course be thine!

2.

Did not we raise our hands to thee,
Our hands might toil in vain;
Small joy success itself would give,
If thou thy love restrain.

3.

With thee let every week begin,
With thee each day be spent,

For thee each fleeting hour improv'd,
Since each by thee is lent.

4.

Thus cheer us midst the toils of life,
Till all our labours cease,

And fill us, in the realms above,
With everlasting peace.

156. c. M.

Divine Mercy in Affliction.

1.

GREAT Ruler of all nature's frame!
We own thy power divine;
We hear thy breath in every storm;
For all the winds are thine.

2.

Wide as they sweep their sounding way,
They work thy sovereign will;
And aw'd by thy majestic voice,
Confusion shall be still.

3.

Thy mercy tempers every blast
To those who seek thy face;
And mingles with the tempest's roar
The whispers of thy grace.

4.

Those gentle whispers let us hear,
Till all the tumult cease,

And heavenly hopes and prospects rise
To soothe our souls to peace.

157. C. M.

Benefit of Afflictions.

1.

SWEET fruits afflictions bring, like those
Which grew on Aaron's rod,
To him who bears them with a mind
That speaks a child of God.

2.

He sees his heavenly Father's hand,
And lifts his eyes above;
Humbly he bows beneath the rod
Whose every stroke is love..

3.

Faith by the trial is improv'd;
Like gold is more refin'd:

Hope looks within the veil, and leaves
All mortal things behind.

4.

The peaceful fruits of righteousness
Compensate all his pain;

His losses, whilst they make him poor,
Increase his better gain.

5.

When sorrows, like a storm, assail,
He bends and bears the blast::
Stronger by weakness he becomes;
And shaken, stands more fast.
6.

So the weak reed, by yielding, stands
Secure from every harm;

While the tall cedar which resists,
Falls by the mighty storm.

158. c. M.

Comfort in Sickness and Death.

1.

WHEN sickness shakes the languid frame,
Each dazzling pleasure flies;
Phantoms of bliss no more obscure
Our long-deluded eyes.

2.

Their frail support deceives no more
When death its terrors shows,
And nature faints beneath the weight
Of complicated woes.

3.

The tottering frame of mortal life

Shall crumble into dust;

Nature shall faint, but learn, my soul!
Upon thy GOD to trust.

4.

The man whose pious heart is fix'd
On his all-gracious GOD,

In every

frown may

comfort find,

And kiss the chastening rod.

5.

Nor him shall death itself alarm;

On heaven his soul relies;

With joy he views his Maker's love,
And with composure dies.

139

BOOK IV.

HYMNS RELATING TO CHRISTIAN

DUTY.

159. S. M.

The Pleasures of Religion.

1.

COME, ye that love the LORD, And let your joys be known; Join in a song with sweet accord, And thus surround his throne.

2.

Here let the pious mind Bid all its sorrows cease; Religion never was design'd To make its pleasures less.

3.

GOD, your eternal Friend,

No present good denies ;

And when the scenes of time shall end,
Will call you to the skies.

4.

There shall you see his face,

And never, never, sin;

There from the rivers of his grace,

Drink endless pleasures in.