DEATH.

"The time of my departure is at hand."

My years are gone, my days are past,
My feeble frame is sinking fast,
Mine is the unknown silent waste,
With ghostly shadows overcast,
A land of death! I cannot see
The path that lies in front of me ;
Yet is my trust in God, for he
Has been my Guide, and yet will be.
I shall not trust in him in vain,
He will give ear, when I complain;
The gloom will quickly pass, and then
I shall behold the light again.

Cease, then, my friends, from faithless fear,
Shed not for me the useless tear;
My God, to whom my soul is dear,
Will, as in life, in death be near.
Think you, this world alone is fair,
With all its sorrow, sin, and care?
Yon glorious orbs, hung in the air,
Tell of ten thousand better there.

174

THE SPIRIT AND THE MUSE.

A SACRIFICE FOR SIN.

“ Christ died for our sins."

How full of comfort is this word,
That Jesus died, our God and Lord !
Died for our sins ! amazing thought!
For us poor creatures, sons of nought!

Now, though like Jesus die we must,
We shall not perish in the dust;
Like Jesus, we shall rise again ;
Like Jesus, live; like Jesus, reign.

Then let us, while on earth we stay,
Quit us like children of the day,
Live to our God, by all be known
As heirs of Heaven, as Jesus' own.

THE LAST JUDGMENT.

"He shall sit on the throne of his glory."

Methought it was the great dread day,
When Heaven and Earth did pass away,
And all things crumbled to decay.

Methought that men unguarded were,
And few imagined cause for fear,
Or dreamt that judgment-hour was near.

Methought the Archangel's trump spake out
In one long loud deep dreadful note,
Which earth to its very centre smote.