2 What numbers vainly spend these hours, That are to Jesus due!

Children and parents how they sin!
And how they perish too.

But we, a happier few, are taught
The better paths of truth;

We hail once more the plan of love
That pities wandering youth.

4 Our foolish hearts are prone to err
Too oft we find it so;

O may the God of grace forgive,
And better hearts bestow.

50 may the God who gave our life,
And thus far leads us on,

Be pleased to train our youthful minds To know and love his Son.

134

1

THIS

HIS day belongs to God alone,
This day he chooses for his own;
And we must neither work nor play,
Because it is God's holy day.

2 'Tis well to have one day in seven,
That we may learn the way to heaven;
Then let us spend it as we should,
In serving God and being good.

3 We ought, to-day, to learn and seek
What we may think of all the week;
And be the better every day,

For what we hear our teachers say.

And every Sabbath should be passed
As if we knew it were our last:
What would the dying sinner give
To have one Sabbath more to live!

135

Sabbath Employments.

1

L. M.

SWEET is the work, my God, my King, To praise thy name, give thanks, and

sing;

To show thy love by morning light,
And talk of all thy truth at night.

2 Sweet is the day of sacred rest,
No mortal cares shall seize my breast:
O may my heart in tune be found,
Like David's harp of solemn sound!

3 My heart shall triumph in my Lord,
And bless his works, and bless his word;
Thy works of grace, how bright they shine!
How deep thy counsels! how divine!

4 Fools never raise their thoughts so high;
Like brutes they live, like brutes they die;
Like grass they flourish, till thy breath
Blasts them in everlasting death.

5 But I shall share a glorious part,
When grace hath well refined my heart,
And fresh supplies of joy are shed,
Like holy oil, to cheer my head.

6 Sin. my worst enemy before,

Shall vex my eyes and ears no more;
My inward foes shall all be slain,
Nor Satan break my peace again.

7 Then shall I see, and hear, and know,
All I desired or wished below;

And every power find sweet employ
In that eternal world of joy.

136 Sabbaths will soon be orer.
SEE! another week is gone

!

Quickly have the minutes past;
This we enter now upon

Will to many prove their last.
Mercy hitherto has spared,

But have mercies been improved?
Let us ask, Am I prepared,

Should I be this week removed? 2 Some we now no longer see,

1

Who their mortal race have run, Seemed as fair for life as we

When the former week begun. While we pray, and while we hear, Help us, Lord, each one, to think, Vast eternity is near,

I am standing on the brink.

7's.

L. M.

THE clock has struck, I cannot stay,
O let me rise and haste away;

I'll quit my bed, and leave my home,
The hour of school at length is come.
2 I would be there when prayer begins,
To seek the pardon of my sins;
I'd ask the favour of the Lord,
And pray to understand his word.
30 shall my teachers wait in vain,
While my neglect must give them pain?
No, let me rather strive to be
First of their little family.

4 These Sabbath-days will soon be o'er,
And I shall go to school no more;
I would not then endure the pain
Of having spent my time in vain.

138

1

THUS far we're spared again to meet
Before Jehovah's mercy-seat;

To seek his face, to praise and pray,
And hail another Sabbath-day.

2 Let every tongue its silence break,
Let every tongue his goodness speak,
Who deigns his glory to display
On each returning Sabbath-day.

139

1

COME, let us join with one accord

In hymns around the throne;

This is the day our risen Lord

Hath made and called his own.
2 This is the day which God hath blest,
The brightest of the seven;
Type of that everlasting rest
The saints enjoy in heaven.

3 Then let us in his name sing on,
And hasten to that day

When our Redeemer shall come down,
And shadows pass away.

4 Not one, but all, our days below
Let us in hymns employ;

And in our Lord rejoicing go
To his eternal joy.

140

Prayer for the Sabbath.

L. M.

ORD, give us grace to put away

Each idle thought of work and play; For thou, O Lord, our hearts canst see, And nothing can be hid from thee.

2 This is the day of holy rest,

The Sabbath-day which thou hast blest;
O may we all thy will obey,

And holy keep the Sabbath-day.

141 How sweet is the Sabbath.

11's.

HOW sweet is the Sabbath, the morning

of rest;

The day of the week which I surely love best;

The morning my Saviour arose from the

tomb,

And took from the grave all its terror and

gloom.

20 let me be thoughtful and prayerful to-day, And not spend a minute in trifling or play; Remembering these seasons were graciously given

To teach me to seek, and prepare me for heaven.

3 In the house of my God, in his presence and fear,

When I worship to-day, may it all be sincere;

In the school when 1 learn, may I do it with care,

And be grateful to those who watch over me there.

4 Instruct me, mv Saviour; a child though I be, I am not too young to be noticed by thee;" Renew all my heart, keep me firm in thy ways.

I would love inee, and serve thee, and git thee the praise.