The Frailty and Shortness of Life. Ps. 90.

1 LORD, what a feeble piece
Is this our mortal frame!

Our life, how poor a trifle 'tis,
That scarce deserves the name!

2 Alas! the brittle clay

That built our body first!
And every month and every day
'Tis mouldering back to dust.

3 Our moments fly apace,

Nor will our minutes stay; . Just like a flood our hasty days Are sweeping us away.

4 Well, if our days must fly,

WATTS.

We'll keep their end in sight;
We'll spend them all in wisdom's way,
And let them speed their flight.

5 They'll waft us sooner o'er

This life's tempestuous sea;

Soon shall we reach the peaceful shore
Of blest eternity.

1 HOW short and hasty is our life!
How vast our souls' affairs!
Yet senseless mortals vainly strive
To lavish out their years.

2 Our days run thoughtlessly along,
Without a moment's stay;

Just like a story or a song
We pass our lives away.

WATTS.

3 God from on high invites us home;
But we march heedless on,
And, ever hastening to the tomb,
Stoop downwards as we run.

4 Draw us, O God, with sovereign grace,
And lift our thoughts on high,
That we may end this mortal race,
And see salvation nigh.

471

C. M.

J. Q. ADAMS.

The Hour-Glass.

1 ALAS! how swift the moments fly! How flash the years along!

Scarce here, yet gone already by,

The burden of a song.

See childhood, youth, and manhood, pass,

And age, with furrowed brow;

Time was Time shall be drain the glass

But where in Time is now?

2 Time is the measure but of change;
No present hour is found;

The past, the future, fill the range
Of Time's unceasing round.

Where, then, is now?

In realms above,

With God's atoning Lamb, In regions of eternal love,

Where sits enthroned I AM

3 Then, pilgrim, let thy joys and tears
On Time no longer lean;

But henceforth all thy hopes and fears
From earth's affections wean:
To God let votive accents rise;
With truth, with virtue, live;
So all the bliss that Time denies
Eternity shall give.

472

L. M.

J. TAYLOR.

True Length of Life.

1 LIKE shadows gliding o'er the plain, Or clouds that roll successive on,

Man's busy generations pass,

And while we gaze, their forms are gone.

2 "He lived, he died;" behold the sum,

The abstract of the historian's page! Alike, in God's all-seeing eye,

The infant's day, the patriarch's age.

3 O Father, in whose mighty hand
The boundless years and ages lie,
Teach us thy boon of life to prize,
And use the moments as they fly;

4 To crowd the narrow span of life

With wise designs and virtuous deeds; So shall we wake from death's dark night To share the glory that succeeds.

The Uncertainty of Life.

1 TO-MORROW, Lord, is thine,
Lodged in thy sovereign hand;
And, if its sun arise and shine,
It shines by thy command.

2 The present moment flies,
And bears our life away;

O, make thy servants truly wise,
That they may live to-day.

3 One thing demands our care;
O, be it still pursued,

DODDRIDGE

Lest, slighted once, the season fair

Should never be renewed.

4 To Jesus may we fly,

Swift as the morning light,

Lest life's young, golden beams should die
In sudden, endless night.

WATTS.

474

C. M.

Frailty of Life.

1 THEE we adore, Eternal Name,

And humbly own to thee
How feeble is our mortal frame,
What dying worms are we.

HUMAN LIFE.

2 Our wasting lives grow shorter still,
As months and days increase,
And every beating pulse we tell
Leaves but the number less.

3 The year rolls round, and steals away
The breath that first it gave;
Whate'er we do, where'er we be,
We're travelling to the grave.

4 Dangers stand thick through all the ground, To push us to the tomb;

And fierce diseases wait around
To hurry mortals home.

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.

475

C. M.

Vanity of Life.

J. NEWTON.

1 THE evils that beset our path
Who can prevent or cure?
We stand upon the brink of death,
When most we seem secure.

2 If we to-day sweet peace possess,
It soon may be withdrawn;
Some change may plunge us in distress
Before to-morrow's dawn.

3 Disease and pain invade our health,
And find an easy prey;

And oft, when least expected, wealth
Takes wings and flies away.