And, bidding earthly scenes farewell,

Cried, “ Lord, 'tis pleasant here to dwell.”
5 Yet still our elevated eyes

To nobler visions long to rise ;
That grand assembly would we join,

Where all thy saints around thee shine.
6 That mount how bright! those forms how fair!

'Tis good to dwell for ever there:
Come, death, dear envoy * of my God,

And bear me to that blest abode.
CLXXXIV. The Grace of Christ in ministering to Men, and dying

for them. Matthew xx. 28.
1 SAVIOUR of men, and Lord of love,

How sweet thy gracious name!
With joy that errand we review,

On which thy mercy came.
2 While all thy own angelic bands

Stood waiting on the wing,
Charm'd with the honour to obey

The word of such a king ;
3 For us mean wretched sinful men

Thou laid'st that glory by,
First in our mortal Aesh to serve,

Then in that flesh to die.
4. Bought with thy service and thy blood,

We doubly, Lord, are thine;
To thee our lives we would devote,

To thee our death resign.
5 Blest man, who in thy cause consumes

His vigorous days with zeal!
Then with the last slow ebb of blood

Is call'd thy truth to seal !
CLXXXV. Christ's compassionate Readiness to gather Souls,

Matthew xxiii. 37, 38.
I SEE how the Lord of mercy spreads

His gentle hands abroad;
And warns us of the circling foes,

That thirst to drink our blood !
2 “ Fly to the shelter of mine arms,

“And dwell secure from fear;
6. Nor earth nor hell shall pluck you thence,
“ Or reach, and wound you there."

* Messenger or ambassador.

3 With anxious heart the parent-bird

Thus calls her offspring round,
When horrid vultures beat the air,

And slaughter stains the ground.
4 The trembling brood, by nature taught,

Fly to the known retreat ;
Beneath her downy wings are safe,

And find the shelter sweet.
5 But men, alas ! more thoughtless men,

Refuse to lend an ear ;
Their only refuge madly fly

And rather die, than hear.
6 They spurn the Saviour's offer'd grace,

Till they his wrath infame;
Then desolation lays them low

In agony and shame.
CLXXXVI. The Abounding of Iniquity, and Coldness of Christian

Love. Matthew xxiv. 12.

- FOR A FAST-DAY.
1 A LAS for Britain, and her sons !

1 What hath she not to fear?
The sins, that ruin'd Salem once,

O how triumphant here!
2 Alas the strong o'erflowing tide!

How fiercely doth it rage !
And each foreboding symptom joins

In terrible presage.
3 Yet who hath eyes that can discern,

Or who an ear to hear ?
Whose heart is trembling for the ark,

Or for his country dear?
4 Cold is the love of christian breasts,

If christian breasts remain ;
And dying the last sparks of zeal,

Or its last efforts vain.
5 Of Britain, oft chastis’d and sav'd,

What shall the end be found ?
Shall not the sword, that waves so long,

Inflict the deeper wound?
6 () stay thine arm, all-gracious God;

Thy Spirit largely pour!
He can the streams of guilt restrain,

And dying love restore.

CLXXXVII. The final Sentence, and Happiness of the Righteous.

Matthew xxv. 34.
LATTEND mine ear; my heart rejoice;.

While Jesus from his throne,
Begirt with all the angelic hosts,

Makes his last sentence known!
2 When sinners, cursed from his face,

To raging fames are driven,
His voice, with melody divine,

Thus calls his saints to heaven.
3 « Blest of my Father, all draw near,

“ Receive the large reward ;
" And rise with raptures to possess

“ The kingdom love prepar'd.
4. " Ere earth's foundations first were laid,

" This sovereign purpose wrought,
" And rear'd those palaces divine,

“ To which you now are brought.
5 6 There shall you reign unnumber'd years,

“ Protected by my power,
“ While sin and hell, and pains and cares

“ Shall vex your souls no more.”
6 Come, dear majestic Saviour, come,

This jubilee proclaim,
And teach us accents fit to praise

So great, so dear a name.

CLXXXVIII. Relieving Christ in his poor Saints. Matthew xxv. 40. i JESUS, my Lord, how rich thy grace !

Thy bounties how complete!
How shall I count the matchless sum?

How pay the mighty debt?
2 High on a throne of radiant light

Dost thou exalted shine;
What can my poverty bestow,

When all the worlds are thine ?
3 But thou hast brethren here below,

The partners of thy grace,
And wilt confess their humble names

Before thy Father's face.
4 In them thou may'st be cloath'd, and fed,

And visited, and cheer'd;
And in their accents of distress

My Saviour's voice is heard.

5 Thy face with reverence and with love

I in thy poor would see ;
O rather let me beg my bread,

Than hold it back from thee!

CLXXXIX. The foal Sentence and Misery of the Wicked.

Matthew xxv. 41.
AND will the Judge descend ?

And must the dead arise ?
And not a single soul escape

His all-discerning eyes?
2 And from his righteous lips

Shall such a sentence sound ?
And through the millions of the damn'd

Spread black despair around ?
3 “ Depart from me, accurs'd,

“ To everlasting flame,
“ For rebel-angels first prepar'd,

“Where mercy never came."
4. How will my heart endure

The terrors of that day,
When earth and heaven before his face

Astonish'd shrink away?
5 But ere that trumpet shakes

The mansions of the dead,
Hark from the gospel's gentle voice

What joyful tidings spread !
6 Ye sinners, seek his grace,

Whose wrath ye cannot bear;
Fly to the shelter of his cross,

And find salvation there.
7 So shall that curse remove

By which the Saviour bled,
And the last awful day shall pour

His blessings on your head, CXC. Christ's Submission to his Father's Will. Matthew xxvi. 42. | “FATHER divine,” the Saviour cried,

While horrors press'd on every side,
And prostrate on the ground he lay,

“ Remove this bitter cup away.
2“ But if these pangs must still be borne,

6 Or helpless man be left forlorn,
“ I bow my soul before thy throne,
“ And say, Thy will, not mine be done."

3 Thus our submissive souls wonld bow,

And, taught by Jesus, lie as low ;
Our hearts, and not our lips alone,

Would say, Thy will, not ours be done.
4 Then, though like him in dust we lie,

We'll view the blissful moment nigh,
Which, from our portion in his pains,

Calls to the joy in which he reigns.
CXCI. Reflections on the Disciples forsaking Christ, when he was

betrayed. Matthew xxvi. 56.
i BEHOLD the Son of God's delight;

His smiles how sweet! his rays how bright!
A friend of tenderness unknown:

To the last breath he lov'd his own.
2 But lo, his friends, his brethren dear

Fled, when they saw his danger near ;
And not one generous heart remains

To shield his life, or share his pains.
3 So frail is man; so frail are we,
When unsupported, Lord, by thee;
Thus shrinks our faith; thus droops our love,

And thus our vows abortive prove.
4 Blest Jesus, thy own power impart,

And bind in cords of love my heart :
The fugitive no more shall Hee,
But keep through death its hold on thee.

CXCII. Christ's Complaint of his father's forsaking him on the

Cross. Matthew xxvii. 46.
1 W HAT doleful accents do I hear?

What piercing cry invades mine ear?
Loaded with shame, and bath'd in blood,
Who calls to a forsaking God?
2 Amazing and heart-rending sight!

'Tis his own darling and delight,
Who once in his embraces lay,

Dearer than all the sons of day!
3 Yet when this Jesus died for me,

Distended on the cursed tree,
God stood afar, nor would afford

One pitying look, one cheering word.
4 What then, my soul, must thou have felt,

If press’d with all thy load of guilt,
Beneath whose weight the Saviour cries,

Who form'd the earth, and built the skies?
VOL. III.

3 Y