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CXXXV.

THOU judge of quick and dead,
Before whose bar severe,
With holy joy or guilty dread,
We all shall soon appear:
Our sinful souls prepare

For that tremendous day;

And fill us now with watchful care,
And stir us up to pray-

Το

pray

and wait the hour

That awful hour unknown;

When robed in majesty and power,
Thou shalt from heaven come down,
Th'immortal Son of man,

To judge the human race,
With all thy father's dazzling train,
With all thy glorious grace.

To damp our earthly joys,
T'increase our gracious fears,
For ever let th' Archangel's voice
Be sounding in our ears;
The solemn midnight cry,

"Ye dead, the Judge is come;
"Arise, and meet him in the sky,
"And meet your instant doom!"

CXXVIII.

WHEN first thine eyes unveil, give thy soul leave
To do the like; our bodies but forerun

The spirit's duty: true hearts spread and heave
Unto their God as flowers do to the sun;
Give him thy first thought then, so shalt thou keep
Him company all day, and in him sleep.

Yet never sleep the sun up; prayer should
Dawn with the day: there are set awful hours
"Twixt heaven and us; the manna was not good
After sun rising; far day sullies flowers:
Rise to prevent the sun; sleep doth sins glut,
And heaven's gate opens when the world's is shut.

Walk with thy fellow-creatures: note the hush
And whisperings amongst them. Not a spring
Or leaf but hath his morning hymn; each bush
And oak doth know I AM.-Canst thou not sing?
O leave thy cares and follies! go this way,
And thou art sure to prosper all the day.

Serve God before the world; let him not go,
Until thou hast a blessing; then resign
The whole unto him, and remember who
Prevailed by wrestling ere the sun did shine:
Pour oil upon the stones, weep for thy sin,
Then journey on, and have an eye to heaven.

Mornings are mysteries: the first, world's youth,
Man's resurrection, and the future's bud,

Shrowd in their births; the crown of life, light, truth,
Is stiled their star; the stone and hidden food:
Three blessings wait upon them, one of which
Should move-they make us holy, happy, rich.
When the worlds' up, and every swarm abroad,
Keep well thy temper, mix not with each day:
Dispatch necessities, life hath a load

Which must be carried on, and safely may;
Yet keep those cares without thee; let the heart
Be God's alone, and choose the better part.

WALLER.

CXXXI.

THE seas are quiet when the winds are o'er,
So calm are we when passions are no more!
For then we know how vain it was to boast
Of fleeting things, so certain to be lost.

Clouds of affection from our younger eyes
Conceal that emptiness which age descries:
The soul's dark cottage, barter'd and decay'd,
Lets in new lights thro' chinks that time has made.

Stronger by weakness, wiser men become
As they draw near to their eternal home;
Leaving the old, both worlds at once they view,
That stand upon the threshold of the new.

O may we thus be found,
Obedient to his word;
Attentive to the trumpet's sound,
And looking for our Lord!
O may we all insure

A lot among the blest!

And watch, a moment, to secure
An everlasting rest.

CXXXVI.

No: I would not always live,
Always sin, repent, and grieve,
Always in my dungeon groan,
Always serve a God unknown;
Or if thou appear'st to me,
Darkly through a glass I see,
Know in part and deeply mourn
Till I to thy arms return.

Pardon'd still for sin I grieve,
Never can myself forgive:
Weeping tho' my heart were pure,
Would I to the end endure,
Still lament, and daily die,
Till my Saviour from the sky
Wipe the gracious tears away,
Bear me to eternal day.

CXXXVII.

JESUS, thy blood and righteousness,
My beauty are, my glorious dress:
'Midst flaming worlds, in these array'd,
With joy shall I lift up my head.

When from the dust of death I rise,
To take my mansion in the skies,
Ev'n then shall this be all my plea-
"Jesus hath lived, hath died for me."
Bold shall I stand in that great day,
For who aught to my charge shall lay?
Fully through thee absolv'd I am
From sin and fear, from guilt and shame.

Thus Abraham, the friend of God,
Thus all the armies bought with blood,
Saviour of sinners thee proclaim,
Sinners, of whom the chief I am.

This spotless robe the same appears
When ruin'd nature sinks in years;
No age can change its glorious hue,
The robe of Christ is ever new.

And when the dead shall hear thy voice,
Thy banish'd children shall rejoice;
Their beauty this, their glorious dress,
Jesus, the Lord our righteousness!

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