fades the love-ly bloom-ing flower, Frail, smil - ing sol - ace of an hour;
soon our transient com - forts fly, And pleasure on ly blooms to
I cannot live without thy light,
Cast out and banished from thy sight;
Thy holy joys, my God, restore,
And guard me, that I fall no more.
Though I have grieved thy Spirit, Lord,
His help and comfort still afford,
And let a wretch come near thy throne,
To plead the merits of thy Son.
How blest the righteous when he dies!
When sinks a trusting soul to rest,
How mildly beam the closing eyes!
How gently heaves th' expiring breast!
So fades a summer cloud away;
So sinks the gale when storms are o'er;
So gently shuts the eye of day;
So dies a wave along the shore.
Farewell, conflicting hopes and fears, Where lights and shades alternate dwell; How bright th' unchanging morn appears! Farewell, inconstant world, farewell!
Life's duty done, as sinks the day,
Light from its load the spirit flies;
While heaven and earth combine to say,
"How blest the righteous when he dies!”
How blest the sacred tie that binds,
In sweet communion, kindred minds!
How swift the heavenly course they run,
Here let my faith unshaken dwell;
Forever sure the promise stands;
Not all the powers of earth or hell
Can e'er dissolve the sacred bands.
Whose hearts, whose faith, whose hopes, are Here, O my soul, thy trust repose;
If Jesus is for ever mine,
How swift the heaven-ly course they run, Whose hearts, whose faith, whose hopes, are
ture shall pre-pare, And feed me with my wants sup-ply, And guard me with
THE Lord my pasture shall prepare,
And feed me with a shepherd's care;
His presence shall my wants supply,'
And guard me with a watchful eye;
My noonday walks he shall attend,
And all my midnight hours defend.
When in the sultry glebe. I faint,
Or on the thirsty mountain pant,
To fertile vales and dewy meads
My weary, wandering steps he leads;
Where peaceful rivers, soft and slow,
Amid the verdant landscape flow.
Though in the paths of death I tread,
With gloomy horrors overspread,
My steadfast heart shall know no ill,
For thou, O Lord, art with me still;
Thy friendly crook shall give me aid,
And guide me through the dreadful shade.
Though in a bare and rugged way,
Through devious, lonely wilds I stray,
Thy bounty shall my pains beguile;
The barren wilderness shall smile
With sudden greens and herbage crowned,
And streams shall murmur all around.
THUS far on life's perplexing path, Thus far thou, Lord, our steps hast led,
Snatched from the world's pursuing wrath,
Unharmed though floods o'erhung our
Like ransomed Israel on the shore, [head:
Here then we pause, look back, adore.
Strangers and pilgrims here below,
Like all our fathers, in their day,
We to the land of promise go,
Lord, by thine own appointed way:
Still guide, illumine, cheer our flight,
In cloud by day, in fire by night.
When we have numbered all our years,
And stand at length on Jordan's brink,
Though the flesh fail with mortal fears,
O, let not then the spirit sink;
But strong in faith, and hope, and love,
Plunge through the stream, to rise above!
FORTH from the dark and stormy sky,
Lord, to thine altar's shade we fly;
Forth from the world, its hope and fear,
Father, we seek thy shelter here:
Weary and weak, thy grace we pray;
Turn not, O Lord, thy guests away.
Long have we roamed in want and pain;
Long have we sought thy rest in vain ;
'Wildered in doubt, in darkness lost,
Long have our souls been tempest-tossed:
Low at thy feet our sins we lay;
Turn not, O Lord, thy guests away.
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