Each herb and blossom knows its time,
And feels the quickening ray.

4 Revolving seasons still proclaim
Thine all-sustaining word;

Seed time and harvest speak thy name,-
The promise-keeping Lord.

616

f

1

AWAKE

HYMN 616, C. M.

Close of the Year.

saints! and raise your eyes,

ye
And raise your voices high:
Awake, and praise that sovereign love,
That shows salvation nigh.

mf. 2 On all the wings of time it flies,
Each moment brings it near;
Then welcome each declining day,
Welcome each closing year.

18

3 Not many years their rounds shall run,
Nor many mornings rise,

Ere all its glories stand revealed
To our admiring eyes.

4 Ye wheels of nature! speed your course,
Ye mortal powers! decay;

617

m

1

20

Ρ

Fast as ye bring the night of death,
Ye bring eternal day.

THEE

HYMN 617, C. M.

Time short-Man frail.

HEE we adore, eternal Name!
And humbly own to thee,

How feeble is our mortal frame,
What dying worms are we!

mp 2 The year rolls round, and steals away
The breath that first it gave:
Whate'er we do, where'er we be,
We're traveling to the grave.

Λ

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3 Good God! on what a slender thread
Hang everlasting things!

Th' eternal state of all the dead,
Upon life's feeble strings.

4 Infinite joy, or endless woe,
Attends on every breath,-

And yet, how unconcerned we go,
Upon the brink of death!

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5 Waken, O Lord! our drowsy sense,
To walk this dangerous road;
And if our souls are hurried hence,
May they be found with God.

618

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UN

DEATH.

HYMN 618, L. M.

Death and Burial of Saints.
NVEIL thy bosom, faithful tomb!
Take this new treasure to thy trust,
And give these sacred relics room,
To seek a slumber in the dust.

2 Nor pain, nor grief, nor anxious fear,
Invade thy bounds;-no mortal woes
Can reach the peaceful sleeper here,

While angels watch the soft repose.
3 So Jesus slept;-God's dying Son

Passed through the grave, and blessed the bed!
Rest here, blest saint!-till, from his throne,
The morning break, and pierce the shade.
4 Break from his throne, illustrious morn!
Attend, O earth! his sovereign word;
Restore thy trust;-a glorious form
Shall then arise to meet the Lord.

619

m

1

mp

mp

Ρ

CEAS

HYMN 619, 8s and 7s.

Mourners Comforted.

YEASE, ye mourners! cease to languish,
O'er the grave of those you love;
Pain, and death, and night, and anguish,
Enter not the world above.

2 While our silent steps are straying,

Lonely, through night's deepening shade,
Glory's brightest beam playing

Round th' immortal spirit's head.

mf 3 Light and peace at once deriving,

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From the hand of God most high,
In his glorious presence living,

They shall never-never die.

mf 4 Endless pleasure, pain excluding,

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Sickness there, no more can come;
There, no fear of woe, intruding,

Sheds o'er heaven a moment's gloom.

5 Now, ye mourners! cease to languish,
O'er the grave of those you love;
Far removed from pain and anguish,
They are chanting hymns above.

·620

m

1

Ρ

Ρ

V

621

LAVIV

VI

VAI

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HEAR

HYMN 620, C. M.

Dying in the Lord.

AR what the voice from heaven proclaims
For all the pious dead;

"Sweet is the savor of their names,

And soft their sleeping-bed.

2 "They die in Jesus, and are blessed,—
How kind their slumbers are!

From sufferings, and from sins, released,
And freed from every snare.

8 "Far from this world of toil and strife,
They 're present with the Lord;
The labors of their mortal life
End in a large reward."

1

WHY

HYMN 621, C. M.

Mourning with Hope.

HY should our tears in sorrow flow,
When God recalls his own;

And bids them leave a world of woe,
For an immortal crown?

2 Is not e'en death a gain to those,
Whose life to God was given?
Gladly to earth their eyes they close,
To open them in heaven.

3 Their toils are past-their work is done,
And they are fully blest;

They fought the fight, the vict'ry won,
And entered into rest.

4 Then let our sorrows cease to flow,-
God has recalled his own;

But let our hearts, in every woe,
Still say," Thy will be done!"

622

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AVI

HYMN 622, C. M.
Prayer in View of Death.

1 WHEN, bending o'er the brink of life,

My trembling soul shall stand,
Waiting to pass death's awful flood,
Great God! at thy command;-

2 When every long-loved scene of life
Stands ready to depart;

When the last sigh, that shakes the frame,
Shall rend this bursting heart;-

30 thou great Source of joy supreme!
Whose arm alone can save,-
Dispel the darkness, that surrounds
The entrance to the grave.

4 Lay thy supporting, gentle hand
Beneath my sinking head;

And, with a ray of love divine,
Illume my dying bed.

5 Leaning on thy dear faithful breast,
May I resign my breath,

623

m

1

And, in thy fond embraces, lose
"The bitterness of death."

HYMN 623, S. M.

Reflections on past Generations.

[OW swift the torrent rolls,

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That bears us to the sea!

The tide which hurries thoughtless souls
To vast eternity!

2 Our fathers!-where are they,

With all they called their own?

Their joys and griefs--and hopes and cares,
And wealth and honor-gone!

3 But joy or grief succeeds

Beyond our mortal thought,

While still the remnant of their dust

Lies in the grave forgot.

4 There, where the fathers lie,
Must all the children dwell;

Nor other heritage possess,
But such a gloomy cell.

ΔΙ

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5 God of our fathers! hear,

Thou everlasting Friend!

While we, as on life's utmost verge,
Our souls to thee commend.

6 Of all the pious dead

624

1

May we the footsteps trace,
Till with them, in the land of light,
We dwell before thy face.

HOW

HYMN 624, L. M.

Death of the Righteous.

OW blest the righteous when he dies,—
When sinks a weary soul to rest!
How mildly beam the closing eyes!
How gently heaves th' expiring breast!

2 So fades a summer cloud away;

So sinks a gale when storms are o'er;
So gently shuts the eye of day;
So dies a wave along the shore.

3 A holy quiet reigns around,

A calm which life nor death destroys; Nothing disturbs that peace profound, Which his unfettered soul enjoys.

4 Farewell, conflicting hopes and fears!

Where lights and shades alternate dwell: How bright th' unchanging morn appears! Farewell, inconstant world! farewell! 5 Life's duty done, as sinks the clay, Light from its load the spirit flies; While heaven and earth combine to say,แ How blest the righteous when he dies!”

625 mf 1

HAPPY

HYMN 625, 8s and 7s.

The dying Saint comforted.

APPY soul! thy days are ending,-
All thy mourning days below:
Go, the angel guards attending-
To the sight of Jesus go!
Waiting to receive thy spirit,

Lo! the Saviour stands above;
Shows the fullness of his merit-
Reaches out the crown of love.