5 Satan, who now tries to pleafe you, Left you timely warning take,
When that word is paft, will feize you, Plunge you in the burning lake:
Think, poor finner, thy eternal all's at stake, 6 But to thofe who have confeffed, Lov'd and ferv'd the Lord below, He will fay, "Come near, ye blessed, See the kingdom I bestow:
You for ever fhall my loveand glory know."
7 Under forrows and reproaches,
May this thought your courage raise ! Swiftly God's great day approaches, Sighs fhall then be chang'd to praife: [blaze. We fhall triumph when the world is in a
LXXVIII. The Day of the Lord *.
GOD with one piercing glance looks thro'
Creation's wide-extended frame;
The paft and future in his view, And days and ages are the fame +.
2 Sinners who dare provoke his face, Who on his patience long prefume, And trifle out his day of grace, Will find he has a day of doom.
3 As pangs the lab'ring woman feels,
Or as the thief, in midnight-fleep;
So comes that day, for which the wheels, Of time their ceafelefs motion keep!
4 Hark! from the fky, the trump proclaims Jefus the Judge approaching nigh! See, the creation wrapt in flames, First kindled by his vengeful eye!
* Book III. Hymn 4. † 2 Pet. iii. 8.-10.
When thus the mountains melt like wax; When earth, and air, and sea, fhall burn; When all the frame of nature breaks, Poor finner, whither wilt thou turn? 6 The puny works which feeble men Now boast, or covet, or admire; Their pomp, and arts, and treasures, then Shall perish in one common fire.
Lord, fix our hearts and hopes above! Since all below to ruin tends;
Here may we truft, obey, and love, And there be found amongst thy friends.
LXXIX. The great Tribunal *.
OHN, in vision, faw the day
When the Judge will haften down : Heav'n and earth fhall flee away From the terror of his frown: Dead and living, fmall and great, Raised from the earth and sea, At his bar fhall hear their fate, What will then become of me ? 2 Can I bear his awful looks? Shall I ftand in judgment then, When I fee the open'd books, Written by the Almighty's pen If he to remembrance bring, And expofe to public view, Ev'ry work and fecret thing, Ah, my foul, what canft thou do? 3 When the lift fhall be produc'd Of the talents i enjoy'd;
Means and mercies, how abus'd!. Time and ftrength, how milemploy'd!
Confcience then, compell'd to read, Must allow the charge is true;
Say, my foul, what canft thou plead In that hour, what wilt thou do? 4 But the book of life I fee,
May my name be written there ! Then from guilt and danger free, Glad I'll meet him in the air: That's the book I hope to plead, 'Tis the gospel open'd wide; Lord, I am a wretch indeed! I have finn'd, but thou haft dy'd * Now my foul knows what to do; Thus I hall with boldnefs ftand,, Number'd with the faithful few, Own'd and fav'd, at thy right hand: If thou help a feeble worm To believe thy promise now, Juftice will at last confirm What thy mercy wrought below.
IV. CREATION.
LXXX. The Old and New Creation
HAT was a wonder-working word Which could the vast creation raise? Angels, attendant on their Lord †, Admir'd the plan, and fung his praife. 2 From what a dark and shapeless mafs, All nature sprang at his command! Let there be light, and light there was, And fun, and ftars, and fea, and land. 3. With equal fpeed the earth and feas Their mighty Maker's voice obey'd; He fpake, and ftrait the plants and trees, And birds, and beafts, and man were made.
4 But man, the lord and crown of all, By fin his honour focn defac'd;
His heart (how alter'd fince the fall!). / Is dark, deform'd, and void, and waste. 5 The new creation of the fouls» Does now no less his pow'r difplay Than when he form'd the mighty whole, And kindled darkness into day.
6 Tho' felf-deftroy'd, O'Lord, we are, Yet let us feel what thou canft do; Thy word the ruin can repair, And all our hearts create anew.
LXXXI. The Book of Creation.
THE book of Nature open lies, With much inftruction ftor'd; But till the Lord anoints our eyes, We cannot read a word.
2 Philofophers have por'd in vain, And guefs'd from age to age; For Reafon's eye could ne'er attain To understand a page.
3 Tho' to each ftar they give a name, Its fize and motions teach;
The truths which all the stars proclaim, Their wifdom cannot reach.
With kill to measure earth and fea, And weigh the fubtle air; as They cannot, Lord, difcover thee, Tho' prefent ev'ry where.
5 The knowledge of the faints excels The wifdom of the fchools;
To them his fecrets God reveals, Tho' men account them fools.
6 To them the fun and ftars on high, The flow's that paint the field,::. . And all the artlefs birds that fly, Divine inftruction yield
7 The creatures on their fenfes préf As witgeiles to proverb eszí Their Saviour's pow'r and faithfulness, A His providence and love,da mislɔor I
8 Thus may we study, Nature's booky mit s To make us wife indeed!) s07 And pity those who only look obuol A At what they cannot read tuon baA
LXXXII. The Rainbowb aill
WHEN the fun, with chearful beams, Smiles upon a low ringky, H
Soon its afpect foft'ned fegms.i cadw doll p And a rainbow meets the eyeĦ i bää While the ky remains fereneo) H This bright arch is never feens ful 2 Thus the Lord's fupporting pow'r Brightest to his faints appears W When Affliction's threat'ning hourg Fills their fky with clouds and fears
He can wonders then performis nf. à Paint a rainbow on the form 3 All their graces doubly, fhingoit DIW When their troubles prefs them fore is And the promises divine. sy bro Give them joys unknown before, o As the colours of the bow ha di adT To the cloud their brightnefs owe." 4 Favour'd John a rainbow faw Circling round the throne above, Hence the faints a pledge may draw tuor2 Of unchanging conant lover
• Matth. vi. 26.-28. † Rom. i. 201 ik Gengis. 14.
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