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Of all that I have done or said

How little can I now recal! Forgotten things to me are dead;

With thee they live, thou knowest them all.

Thou hast been with me from the womb,
Witness to every conflict here;
Nor wilt thou leave me at the tomb,
Before thy bar I must appear.

The moment comes, when strength must fail,
When health, and hope, and comfort flown,
I must go down into the vale

And shade of death, with thee alone.

Alone with thee;-in that dread strife,
Uphold me through mine agony,
And gently be this dying life
Exchanged for immortality.

Then, when the unbodied spirit lands
Where flesh and blood have never trod,
And in the unveiled presence stands
Of Thee, my Saviour, and my God;-

Be mine eternal portion this,

Since Thou wert always here with me, That I may view thy face in bliss,

And be for evermore with Thee.

XXV.

O, THOU great power! in whom I move,
By whom I live, to whom I die,
Behold me through thy beams of love,
Whilst on this couch of tears I lie,
And cleanse my sordid soul within
By thy Christ's blood, the bath for sin.

No hallowed oils, no gums I need,
No rags of saints, no purging fire;
One rosy drop from David's seed,

Was worlds of seas to quench thine ire; Oh, precious ransom! which once paid, That consummatum est was said;

And said by Him, that said no more, But sealed it with His sacred breath: Thou then, that has dispunged my score, And, dying, wert the death of death,

Be to me now-on Thee I call—

My life, my strength, my joy, my all!

XXVI.

To Sion's hill I lift my eyes,
From thence expecting aid:
From Sion's hill, and Sion's God,
Who heaven and earth has made.

Then thou, my soul, in safety rest,
Thy guardian will not sleep :
His watchful care that Israel guards,
Will Israel's monarch keep.

Sheltered beneath the Almighty's wings

Thou shalt securely rest,

Where neither sun nor moon shall thee By day or night molest.

At home, abroad, in peace, in war, Thy God shall thee defend; Conduct thee through life's pilgrimage Safe to thy journey's end.

XXVII.

O GOD! our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.

Under the shadow of thy throne,
Thy saints have dwelt secure ;
Sufficient is thine arm alone,
And our defence is sure.

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.

The busy tribes of flesh and blood,
With all their lives and cares,
Are carried downwards by the flood,
And lost in following years.

Time, like an ever-rolling stream
Bears all its sons away;
They fly, forgotten, as a dream,
Dies at the opening day.

Like flowery fields the nations stand,
Pleased with the morning light;
The flowers beneath the mower's hand
Lie withering ere 'tis night.

O God! our help in ages past,

Our hope for years to come,

Be thou our guard whilst life shall last,
And our eternal home.

XXVIII.

WHEN Israel, of the Lord beloved,
Out from the land of bondage came,
Her father's God before her moved,
An awful guide, in smoke and flame.
By day, along the astonished lands
The cloudy pillar glided slow;
By night, Arabia's crimsoned sands
Returned the fiery column's glow.

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