1 THE world may look serene and bright, Our path be strown with choicest flowers,

And days of love and home delight,

And nights of healthful rest, be ours. From worldly strife and worldly care The heart a safe repose may win, And yet feel all too weak to bear

The burden of unpardoned sin.

2 He, he alone, is truly blest

Whom God hath from this burden freed; Whose doubts and fears are lulled to rest, Whose peace of heart is peace indeed; Who, strong in faith, can lift to heaven

A tranquil and undaunted brow; Who knows and feels his sin forgiven,

His soul's dark warfare ended now.

3 And who are they on whom alone

Descends this blessing from above,
To whom their Father hath made known
These tokens of His special love?
The Jew by circumcision's rite?-

The Christian by baptismal sign? -
On these doth more celestial light
Than on less favoured spirits shine?
4 Nor outward sign nor mystic rite

Alone such blessings can confer;
To walk by faith, and not by sight,
Like Abraham's self a worshipper,
To count all earthly gain but loss,

To look and long to be forgiven
Through Him who died upon the cross-
This, this unlocks the gate of heaven.

146 The Name of the Lord Jesus was mag

nified. Acts xvii.

1 How sweet the name of Jesus sounds

In a believer's ear!

It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds,

And drives away his fear.

It makes the wounded spirit whole,
And calms the troubled breast;
'Tis manna to the hungry soul,
And, to the weary, rest.

2 Dear Name, the rock on which I build,
My shield and hiding-place,
My never-failing treasury, filled

With boundless stores of grace:
Weak is the effort of my heart,

And cold my warmest thought;
But when I see Thee as Thou art,
I'll praise Thee as I ought.

3 Till then I would Thy love proclaim
With every fleeting breath;
And may the music of Thy Name
Refresh my soul in death.

Give glory to the Three in One, &c.

147 He gave Him a Name which is above

every name. Phil. ii.

1 JESUS, Name of wondrous love,
Name all other names above,
Unto which must every knee
Bow in deep humility;
Jesus, Name decreed of old,
To the maiden mother told
Kneeling in her lowly cell
By the angel Gabriel;

2 Jesus, Name of priceless worth
To the fallen sons of earth
For the promise that it gave-
'Jesus shall His people save;'
Jesus, Name of mercy mild,
Given to the holy Child,
When the cup of human woe
First He tasted here below;
3 Jesus, only Name that's given
Under all the mighty heaven,
Whereby man, to sin enslaved,
Bursts his fetters, and is saved;
Jesus, Name of wondrous love,
Human Name of Him above;
Pleading only this we flee,
Helpless else, O God, to Thee.

148

1 JESUS

Thy holy Child Jesus. Acts xxvii.

the highest Name

Man on earth or angel knoweth:
High o'er all its power proclaim:
Grace and glory it bestoweth.
Name alone divinely bright,
Name of love and life and light.

2 Jesus frees from sin and woe,

Bringing to the world salvation;
Jesus overcomes the Foe;

Strong His might o'er all creation:
More than conquerors we shall prove
If our strength be Jesu's love.

3 Jesus is the blissful tree

Life for all the nations bearing:
Blest as Eden all shall be

In the heart its virtue sharing:
Fruits of death no more abound,
If His shadow bless the ground.

4 Higher good can nought bestow

Than His Name in earth and heaven:
Hence doth all our solace flow:
Peace and joy by Him are given.
Jesu's holy Name alone

High o'er every name we own.

149

Thou shalt call His Name Jesus.
Luke i.

1 JESU, the very thought of Thee
With sweetness fills the breast;
But sweeter far Thy face to see,
And in Thy presence rest.
Tongue never spake, ear never heard,

Nor e'er from heart o'erflowed
A dearer name, a sweeter word,
Than Jesus, Son of God.
20 hope of every contrite heart,
O joy of all the meek,

To those who fall how kind Thou art!
How good to those who seek!

But what to those who find? Ah, this
No tongue nor pen can show;
The love of Jesus, what it is,

None but His loved can know.

3 0 Thou, the source of life and light
To all who trust in Thee,
Whose gifts are fulness infinite,
Whose yoke is liberty:

Thee, Jesu, let our voices bless

Thee let us love alone,

And ever of Thy life express

The image in our own.

Amen.

1 CONQUERING kings their titles take From the foes they captive make; Jesus, by a nobler deed,

From the thousands He hath freed.

Yea; none other name is given

Unto mortals under heaven,
Which can make the dead arise,
And exalt them to the skies.

2 That which Christ so hardly wrought,
That which He so dearly bought,
That salvation, mortals, say,
Will ye madly cast away?
Rather gladly for that Name

Bear the cross, endure the shame:
Joyfully for Him to die

Is not death, but victory.

3 Jesu, who dost condescend

To be called the sinner's Friend,

151 There is none other Name under hea

ven given among men, whereby we
must be saved. Acts x.

1 To the Name of our Salvation
Laud and honour let us pay;
Which for many a generation
Hid in God's foreknowledge lay,
But with holy exultation

We may sing aloud to-day.

2 Jesus is the Name we treasure;

Name beyond what words can tell;
Name of gladness, Name of pleasure,
Ear and heart delighting well;
Name of sweetness passing measure,
Saving us from sin and hell.
3 'Tis the Name for adoration,
Name for songs of victory,
Name for holy meditation
In this vale of misery,
Name for joyful veneration
By the citizens on high.

4 'Tis the Name that whoso preacheth
Speaks like music to the ear;
Who in prayer this Name beseecheth
Sweetest comfort findeth near;
Who its perfect wisdom reacheth
Heavenly joy possesseth here.

5 Jesus is the Name exalted
Over every other name;
In this Name, whene'er assaulted,
We can put our foes to shame;
Strength to them who else had halted,
Eyes to blind, and feet to lame.

6 Therefore we, in love adoring,
This most blessèd Name revere;
Holy Jesu, Thee imploring

So to write it in us here,
That hereafter, heavenward soaring,

We may sing with angels there. Amen

Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
And our defence is sure.

2 Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting Thou art God,
To endless years the same.
A thousand ages in Thy sight
Are like an evening gone;

Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.

3 So teach us to compute our days,

And so our hearts apply,

That safely we, through wisdom's ways,

May reach eternity.

Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They pass forgotten as a dream

Dies at the opening day.

4 The busy tribes of flesh and blood,
With all their cares and fears,
Are carried downward with the flood,
And lost in following years.
O God, our help in ages past,

Our hope for years to come,

Be Thou our guard, while life shall last,
And our eternal home.

153

What is your life? It is even a
vapour. Jam. iv.

1 LORD, what is life?-'tis like the bow
That glistens in the sky:
We love to see its colours glow,
But while we look they die.
Life fails as soon: to-day 'tis here;
To-night, perhaps, 'twill disappear.
2 Six thousand years have passed away
Since life began to bloom,
And millions, once alive and gay,
Are in the silent tomb:

For life, in all its health and pride,
Has death still waiting at its side.
3 And yet this short, uncertain space,
So foolishly we prize,

That heaven, that lasting dwelling-place,
Seems nothing in our eyes:
The worlds of anguish and of bliss
We disregard, compared with this.

4 Lord, what is life?-if spent with Thee In duty, praise, and prayer,

However short or long it be,
We need but little care;
Because eternity will last

When life and death itself are past.

154 When a few years are gone, then shall

I go the way whence I shall not re
turn. Job xvi.

1 FOR Thy mercy and Thy grace,
Constant through another year,
Hear our song of thankful praise,
Father and Redeemer, hear.

2 In our weakness and distress,

Rock of Strength, be Thou our stay: In the pathless wilderness

Be our true and living way.

3 Which of us death's awful road

In the coming year shall tread?
With Thy rod and staff, O God,
Comfort Thou his dying bed.
4 Make us faithful: make us pure:
Keep us evermore Thine own.
Help Thy servants to endure:
Fit us for the promised crown
5 So within Thy palace gate

We shall praise, on golden strings,
Thee, the only Potentate,

Lord of lords, and King of kings.

155

Amen.

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Ps. xc.

1 REMARK, my soul, the narrow bounds
Of each returning year;

How soon the weeks complete their rounds,
How short the months appear.

2 So fast eternity comes on,

And that momentous day,

When all that mortal man hath done
God's judgment will survey.

3 Arouse, O Lord, my thoughtless heart
Its great concern to see,

That I may choose the Christian's part,
And give the year to Thee.

4 So shall the years more peaceful roll,
If future years arise;

Or this shall bear my willing soul
To joy that never dies.

5 Let songs of endless praise flow on,
Ye saints and heavenly host,
To God the Father, God the Son,
And God the Holy Ghost.
156 Both the great and the small shall die.

Jer. xvi.

1 Mr all I to my God commend,
Who all doth to His purpose bend;
My life resigning to His will;
Mine to lie still,

Or His designs alone fulfil.

2 This earth is but a vale of tear
Where grief on every side appears:
Sad hours of conflict, toil, and woe,
Here ebb and flow,

Till we are summoned hence to go.

3 To-day with joy our hearts beat high; To-morrow in the grave we lie: Though as the rose we bloom to-day, We soon decay,

And sorrow everywhere hath sway. 4 Lord, may we meditate aright

How soon we all must fade from sight,
How swiftly from the earth we fly,
All born to die,

Rich, poor, wise, simple, low and high.

157 Psalm xxxix. 4. Make me to know

mine end, &c.

1 LORD, let me know my term of days,
How soon my life will end:
The numerous train of ills disclose
Which this frail state attend.

My life, Thou know'st, is but a span;
A cipher sums my years;
And every man, in best estate,
But vanity appears.

3 Man like a shadow vainly walks,
With fruitless cares oppressed;
He heaps up wealth, but cannot tell
By whom 'twill be possessed.

4 Lord, hear my cry, accept my tears, And listen to my prayer:

I sojourn like a stranger here,
As all my fathers were.

5 O spare me yet a little time;

My wasted strength restore
Before I vanish quite away
And shall be seen no more.

4 One thing demands our care;
O be it still pursued,
Lest, slighted once, the season fair
Should never be renewed.

5 The Father, with the Son
And Holy Ghost, adore,

Who reigns o'er all the world alone, One God for evermore.

159

Job xiv. Man that is born of a
woman, &c.

1 FEW, few and evil are thy days,
Man of a woman born;
Peril and trouble haunt thy ways.

Forth, like a flower at morn,
The tender infant springs to light;
Youth blossoms to the breeze;
Age, withering age, is cropt ere night:
Man, like a shadow, flees.

2 And dost Thou look on such a one?
Will God to judgment call

A worm, for what a worm hath done
Against the Lord of all?

As fail the waters from the deep,

As summer brooks run dry,
Man lieth down in dreamless sleep;

His life is vanity.

3 Man lieth down, no more to wake
Till yonder arching sphere
Shall with a roll of thunder break,

And nature disappear.

O hide me till Thy wrath be past,

Thou who canst slay or save;

Hide me where hope may anchor fast-
In my Redeemer's grave.

160

I will go to them that are at rest.
Ezek. xxxviii.

1 0 WHERE shall rest be found,
Rest for the weary soul?

'Twere vain the ocean-depths to sound,
Or pierce to either pole:
The world can never give
The bliss for which we sigh;
'Tis not the whole of life to live,
Nor all of death to die.

2 Beyond this vale of tears
There is a life above,
Unmeasured by the flight of years;
And all that life is love:
There is a death, whose pang
Outlasts the fleeting breath:
O what eternal horrors hang
Around the second death!

3 Lord God of truth and grace,
Teach us that death to shun,
Lest we be banished from Thy face,
And evermore undone.

Here let us end our quest;
Alone are found in Thee

The life of perfect love, the rest

Of immortality.

161 We are debtors not to the flesh, to

live after the flesh. Rom. viii.

1 MAKE haste, O man, to live,

For thou so soon must die;

Time hurries past thee like the breeze;

How swift its moments fly!
Make haste, O man, to live.

2 Make haste, O man, to do
Whatever must be done;
Thou hast no time to lose in sloth;
Thy day will soon be gone:

Make haste, O man, to live.

3 Up then with speed, and work;
Fling ease and self away;
This is no time for thee to sleep,
Up, watch, and work and pray:

Make haste, O man, to live.

4 The useful, not the great,

The thing that never dies, The silent toil that is not lost: Set these before thine eyes: Make haste, O man, to live.

5 The seed, whose leaf and flower,
Though poor in human sight,
Bring forth at last the eternal fruit,
Sow thou both day and night:
Make haste,
man, to live.

6 Make haste, O man, to live;
Thy time is almost o'er;
O sleep not, dream not, but arise;
The Judge is at the door:

Make haste, O man, to live.

162 The spirit shall return unto God that

gave it. Eccles. xii.

1 LORD, have mercy, and remove us

Early to Thy place of rest,

Where the heavens are calm above us,

And as calm each sainted breast. Holiest, hear us, by the anguish

On the cross Thou didst endure; Let no more our sad hearts languish In this weary world obscure.

1 ETERNITY, eternity,

How vast, how near, eternity!
The haven where the soul hath rest,
In God Himself for ever blest,
Unbroken rest, unfading day;
O wondrous world without decay!
Now ponder well eternity.

2 Eternity, eternity;

O drear and dark eternity

To all who God's great mercy scorn!
Ah, better had they ne'er been born,
Who live to spurn the saving Name
By which our great redemption came,
Nor ponder well eternity.

3 Eternity, eternity;

O bright, O blest eternity,

Which Jesus has obtained for those
Who seek in Him their sure repose!
A little while they suffer here,
But rest, eternal rest, is near.
O ponder well eternity.

4 Eternity, eternity;

Strange glories of eternity!

Lord, let us now the world despise,
And upward raise our thankful eyes
To joy that ever shall abide
From sin and sorrow purified,
And ponder well eternity.

5 Eternity, eternity;

Prepare us for eternity:

Grant us, dear Lord, Thy humble mind,
To all the Father's will resigned:
Give faith and hope to look above,
And fill us with Thy perfect love
In time and through eternity.