7. Here will I rest, and build my hopes, Nor murmur at his rod;
He's more than all the world to me,
My health, my life, my God!
1. AWAKE, my soul, stretch ev'ry nerve,
And press with vigour on:
A heav'nly race demands thy zeal,
And an immortal crown.
2. A cloud of witnesses around,
Hold thee in full survey:
Forget the steps already trod,
And onward urge thy way.
3. 'Tis God's all-animating voice,
That calls thee from on high;
'Tis his own hand presents the prize
To thine aspiring eye:
4. That prize with peerless glories bright,
Which shall new lustre boast,
When victors' wreaths, and monarchs' gems,
Shall blend in common dust.
5. My soul, with sacred ardour fir'd,
The glorious prize pursue;
And meet with joy the high command,
To bid this earth adieu.
SECTION XX.
The dying Christian to his soul.
1. VITAL spark of heav'nly flame!
Quit, oh quit this mortal frame:
Trembling, hoping, ling'ring, flying,
Oh the pain, the bliss of dying!
Cease, fond nature, cease thy strife,
And let me languish into life.
What is this absorbs me quite;
Steals my senses, shuts my sight,
Drowns my spirits, draws my breath?
Tell me, my soul, can this be death?
3. The world recedes; it disappears!
Heav'n opens on my eyes! my ears
With sounds seraphic ring:
Lend, lend your wings! I mount! I fly!
O Grave! where is thy victory?
O Death! where is thy sting?
SECTION XXI.
Epitaph on a poor and virtuous man.
1. STOP, reader, here, and deign to look
On one without a name;
Ne'er enter'd in the ample book
Of fortune, or of fame.
2. Studioùs of peace, he hated strife;
Meek virtues fill'd his breast:
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arms, a spotless life;"
"An honest heart," his crest.
3. Quarter'd therewith was innocence;
And thus his motto ran:
"A conscience void of all offence Before both God and man."
4. In the great day of wrath, tho' pride
Now scorns his pedigree,
Thousands shall wish they'd been allied
To this great family.
SECTION XXII.
Love to enemies.
1. WHEN Christ, among the sons of men,
In humble form was found,
With cruel slanders, false and vain,
He was encompass'd round.
2. The woes of men, his pity mov'd;
Their peace, he still pursu❜d;
They render'd hatred for his love,
And evil for his good.
3. Their malice rag'd without a cause,
Yet, with his dying breath,
He pray'd for murd'rers on his cross,
And bless'd his foes in death.
4. From the rich fountain of his love,
What streams of mercy flow!
"Father, forgive them." Jesus cries,
"They know not what they do."
5. Let not. this bright example shine,
In vain before our eyes!
Give us, great God, a soul like his,
To love our enemies.
The dangers and snares of life.
1. AWAKE, my soul! lift up thine eyes;
See where thy foes against thee rise,
In long array, a num❜rous host!
Awake, my soul, or thou art lost.
2. Here giant danger threat'ning stands,
Must'ring his pale terrific bands;
There pleasure's silken banners spread,
And willing souls are captive led.
3. See where rebellious passions rage,
And fierce desires and lusts engage;
The meanest foe of all the train
Has thousands and ten thousands slain.
4. Thou tread'st upon enchanted ground;
Perils and snares beset thee round:
Beware of all, guard every part,
But most the traitor in thy heart.
5. Come then, my soul, now learn to wield
The weight of thine immortal shield:
Put on the armour from above
Of heav'nly truth and heav'nly love.
6. The terror and the charm repel,
And pow'rs of earth, and pow'rs of hell :
The Man of Calvary triumph'd here;
Why should his faithful followers fear?
The Divine Being knows and sees every thing.
1. LORD, thou hast search'd and seen me thro',
Thine eye beholds, with piercing view,
My rising and my resting hours,
My heart and flesh, with all their pow'rs.
2. My thoughts, before they are my own,
Are to my God distinctly known;
He knows the words I mean to speak,
Ere from my op'ning lips they break.
3. Within thy circling pow'r I stand;
On ev'ry side I find thy hand:
Awake, asleep, at home, abroad,
I am surrounded still with God.
4. Amazing knowledge, vast, and great!
What large extent! what lofty height!
My soul, with all the pow'rs I boast,
Is in the boundless prospect lost.
5. O may these thoughts possess my breast
Where'er I rove, where'er I rest!
Nor let my weaker passions dare
Consent to sin, for God is there.-
6. Could I so false, so faithless prove,
To quit thy service and thy love,
Where, Lord, could I thy presence shun,
Or from thy dreadful glory run?
7. If up to heav'n I take my flight,
'Tis there thou dwell'st inthron'd in light; Or dive to hell, there vengeance reigns, And Satan groans beneath thy chains.
2. If, mounted on a morning ray, I fly beyond the western sea;
Thy swifter hand would first arrive
And there arrest thy fugitive.
9. Or should I try to shun thy sight
Beneath the spreading veil of night;
One glance of thine, one piercing ray,
Would kindle darkness into day.
9. Oh! may these thoughts possess my breast,
Where'er I rove, where'er I rest;
Nor let my weaker passions dare
Consent to sin, for God is there.
SECTION XXV.
All nature attests the great Creator.
1. HAST thou beheld the glorious sun,
Through all the sky his circuit run,
At rising morn, at closing day,
And when he beam'd his noontide ray?
2. Say, didst thou e'er attentive view
The ev❜ning cloud, or morning dew?
Or, after rain, the wat'ry bow
Rise in the east, a beauteous show?
3. When darkness had o'erspread the skies,
Hast thou e'er seen the moon arise;
And with a mild and placid light,
Shed lustre o'er the face of night?
4. Hast thou e'er wander'd o'er the plain,
And view'd the fields, and waving grain;
The flow'ry mead, the leafy grove,
Where all is melody and love?
5. Hast thou e'er trod the sandy shore,
And heard the restless ocean roar,
When, rous'd by some tremendous storm,
Its billows roll in dreadful form?
6. Hast thou beheld the lightning stream,
Thro' night's dark gloom with sudden gleam;
While the bellowing thunder's sound
Roll'd rattling through the heav'ns profound?
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