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4 What, has autumn left to say,
Nothing of a Saviour's grace;
Yes, the beams of milder day,
Tell me of his smiling face.
5 Light appears with early dawn;
While the sun makes haste to rise,
See his bleeding beauties drawn,
On the blushes of the skies.

Evening with a silent pace,
Slowly moving in the west,
Shows an emblem of his grace,
Points to an eternal rest.

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IE RIGHT IMPROVEMENT OF LIFE, WITH ITS REVIEW, &c.

15.

Life the Day of Grace and Hope.
Eccl. ix. 4, 5, 6, 10. (L. M.)

LIFE is the time to serve the Lord,
The time to insure the great reward;
And while the lamp holds out to burn,
The vilest sinner may return.

2 Life is the hour that God has giv'n,
To 'scape from hell and fly to heav'n,
The day of grace, and mortals may,
Secure the blessings of the day.

3 The living know that they must die,
But all the dead forgotten lie,
Their

memory and their sense is gone, Alike unknowing and unknown.

4 Their hatred and their love is lost,
Their envy bury'd in the dust;

They have no share in all that's done,
Beneath the circuit of the sun.

5 Then what my thoughts design to do,
My hands, with all your might pursue,
Since no device, nor work is found,
Nor faith, nor hope, beneath the ground.
6 There are no acts of pardon past,
In the cold grave to which we haste ;
But darkness, death, and long despair,
Reign in eternal silence there.

216.

1

HOW

Frailty and Folly. (C.M.)

OW short and hasty is our life!
How vast our soul's affairs!
Yet senseless mortals vainly strive,
To lavish out their

years.

2 Our days run thoughtlessly along,
Without a moment's stay:
Just like a story or a song,
We pass our lives away.

3 God from on high invites us home,
But we march heedless on,
And ever hast'ning to the tomb,
Stoop downwards as we run.

4 How we deserve the deepest hell,
That slight the joys above!

What chains of vengeance should we feel,
That break such cords of love!

5 Draw us, O God, with sov'reign grace,
And lift our thoughts on high,
That we may end this mortal race,
And see salvation nigh.

17. The Shortness and Misery of Life. (C.M.)

1

OUR

UR days, alas! our mortal days,
Are short and wretched too;
“Evil and few,” the patriarch says,
And well the patriarch knew.
2 "Tis but at best a narrow bound,
That heav'n allows to men,
And pains and sins run thro' the round,
Of threescore years and ten.
3 Well, if ye must be sad and few,
Run on, my days, in haste;
Moments of sin, and months of woe,
Ye cannot fly too fast.

4 Let heav'nly love prepare my soul,
And call her to the skies,

Where years of long salvation roll,
And glory never dies.

218. Love to the Creatures dangerous. (C. M.)

1

HOW vain are all things here below!
How false, and yet how fair!

Each pleasure hath its poison too,
And every sweet a snare.

2 The brightest things below the sky,
Give but a flattering light;

We should suspect some danger nigh,
Where we possess delight.

3 Our dearest joys, and nearest friends,
The partners of our blood,

How they divide our wav'ring minds,
And leave but half for God!

4 The fondness of a creature's love,
How strong it strikes the sense!
Thither the warm affections move,
Nor can we call them thence.

5 Dear Saviour, let thy beauties be,
My soul's eternal food;

And grace command my heart away,
From all created good.

219. The Pilgrimage of the Saints; or, Earth a Heaven. (C. M.)

1 LORD! what a wretched land is this, That yields us no supply;

No cheering fruits, no wholesome trees,
Nor streams of living joy!

2 But pricking thorns through all the ground,
And mortal poisons grow;
And all the rivers that are found,
With dangerous waters flow.

3 Yet the dear path to thine abode,
Lies through this horrid land;

Lord! we would keep the heavenly road,
And run at thy command.

4 Our souls shall tread the desert through, With undiverted feet;

And faith, and flaming zeal subdue,
The terrors that we meet.

5 A thousand savage beasts of prey,
Around the forest roam;

But Judah's Lion guards the way,
And guides the strangers home.

6 Long nights and darkness dwell below,
With scarce a twinkling ray;

But the bright world to which we go,
Is everlasting day.

By glimmering hopes, and gloomy fears,
We trace the sacred road;

Through dismal deeps, and dangerous snares,
We make our way to God.

8 Our journey is a thorny maze,
But we march upward still;
Forget these troubles of the ways,
And reach at Zion's hill.

9 See the kind angels at the gates,
Inviting us to come;

There Jesus the forerunner waits,
To welcome travellers home.

0 There on a green and flowery mount,
Our weary souls shall sit;
And with transporting joys recount,
The labours of our feet.

11 No vain discourse shall fill our tongue,
Nor trifles vex our ear;
Infinite grace shall be our song,
And God rejoice to hear.

12 Eternal glories to the King,

That brought us safely through;
Our tongues shall never cease to sing,
And endless praise renew.

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