3 Happy the believing soul!
Christ for you has paid the whole;
While you own the debt is large,
You may plead a full discharge:
But, poor careless sinner, say,
What can you to justice pay?
Tremble, lest when life is past,
Into prison you be cast!
4 Will you still increase the score?
Still be careless as before?
Oh! forbid it, gracious Lord,
Touch their spirits by thy word!
Now, in mercy, to them show
What a mighty debt they owe!
All their unbelief subdue;
Let them find forgiveness too.
5 Spar'd to see another year,
Let thy blessing meet us here;
Come, thy dying work revive,
Bid thy drooping garden thrive:
Sun of righteousness, arise!
Warm our hearts, and bless our eyes;
Let our pray'r thy bowels move,
Make this year a time of love.
V. Death and War.-1778.
1 HARK! how time's wide-sounding bell
Strikes on each attentive ear!
Tolling loud the solemn knell
Of the late departed year:
Years, like mortals, wear away,
Have their birth and dying day,
Youthful spring, and wintry age,
Then to others quit the stage.
2 Sad experience may relate
What a year the last has been!
Crops of sorrow have been great,
From the fruitful seeds of sin :
Oh! what numbers, gay and blithe,
Fell by death's unsparing sithe?
While they thought the world their own,
Suddenly he mow'd them down.
3 See how war, with dreadful stride,
Marches at the Lord's command,
Spreading desolation wide,
Through a once much-favour'd land:
War, with heart and arms of steel,
Preys on thousands at a meal;
Daily drinking human gore,
Still he thirsts and calls for more.
4 If the God whom we provoke,
Hither should his way direct;
What a sin-avenging stroke
May a land like this expect!
They who now securely sleep,
Quickly then would wake and weep;
And too late would learn to fear,
When they saw the danger near.
5 You are safe who know his love,
He will all his truth perform;
To your souls a refuge prove
From the rage of ev'ry storm:
But we tremble for the youth;
Teach them, Lord, thy saving truth;
Join them to thy faithful few,
Be to them a refuge too.
VI. Earthly Prospects deceitful.
1 OFT in vain the voice of truth
Solemnly and loudly warns;
Thoughtless, unexperienc'd youth,
Though it hears, the warning scorns :
Youth in fancy's glass surveys
Life prolong'd to distant years,
While the vast imagin'd space
Fill'd with sweets and joys appears.
2 Awful disappointment soon
Overclouds the prospect gay;
Some their sun goes down at noon,
Torn by death's strong hand away:
Where are then their pleasing schemes?
Where the joys they hop'd to find?
Gone for ever, like their dreams,
Leaving not a trace behind.
3 Others, who are spar'd a while,
Live to weep o'er fancy's cheat;
Find distress, and pain, and toil,
Bitter things instead of sweet :
Sin has spread a curse around,
Poison'd all things here below;
On this base, polluted ground
Peace and joy can never grow.
4 Grace alone can cure our ills,
Sweeten life with all its cares,
Regulate our stubborn wills,
Save us from surrounding snares:
Though you oft have heard in vain,
Former years in folly spent,
Grace invites you yet again,
Once more calls you to repent.
5 Call'd again, at length beware,
Hear the Saviour's voice and live;
Lest he in his wrath should swear,
He no more will warning give:
Pray that you may hear and feel,
Ere the day of grace be past;
Lest your hearts grow hard as steel,
Or this year should prove your last.
BEFORE ANNUAL SERMONS TO YOUNG PEOPLE, ON NEW-YEARS' EVENINGS
VII. Prayer for a Blessing.
1Now, gracious Lord, thine arm reveal,
And make thy glory known;
Now let us all thy presence feel,
And soften hearts of stone!
2 Help us to venture near thy throne,
And plead a Saviour's name;
For all that we can call our own,
Is vanity and shame.
3 From all the guilt of former sin
May mercy set us free;
And let the year we now begin,
Begin and end with thee.
4 Send down thy Spirit from above,
That saints may love thee more;
And sinners now may learn to love,
Who never lov'd before.
5 And when before thee we appear,
In our eternal home,
May growing numbers worship here,
And praise thee in our room.
1 BESTOW, dear Lord, upon our youth
The gift of saving grace;
And let the seed of sacred truth
Fall in a fruitful place.
2 Grace is a plant, where'er it grows,
Of pure and heav'nly root;
But fairest in the youngest shows,
And yields the sweetest fruit.
3 Ye careless ones, O hear betimes
The voice of sov'reign love!
Your youth is stain'd with many crimes, But mercy reigns above.
4 True, you are young, but there's a stone Within the youngest breast,
Or half the crimes which you have done,
Would rob you of your rest.
5 For you the public pray'r is made,
Oh! join the public pray'r!
you the secret tear is shed,
O shed yourselves a tear!
pray that you may early prove
The Spirit's pow'r to teach;
You cannot be too young to love
That Jesus whom we preach.
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