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REPENTANCE FROM DEAD WORKS.

66

'Prepare to meet thy God."

O sinner, thou the path of life hast trod,
But not with God!

Soon will a few short years have passed away,
Say, sinner, say,

What then the world to thee with all its show?
Nothing, I trow :

Dar'st thou then meet in yon dark world alone

The Holy One?

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Dar'st thou then stand before him, calm and brave,
Child of the grave?

Will not the very thought that He is near
Thrill thee with fear?

When he shall call thee to account at last
For sins long past,

What wilt thou say to him, or how withstand
His mighty hand?

Turn-for thy God is merciful and just—
Or die thou must.

CONFESSION OF SIN.

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins."

Those evil humours which oft lurk within
These mortal frames of ours, the fruits of sin,
Better discharge through sundry fleshly pores,

Red pimples, ugly blisters, ulcered sores,
Than let them unimpeded run their course,
And by degrees poison life's very source:
Just the same law effectual will be found
To make the spirit as the body sound;
The act of sin, which baffled every eye,
Save His, who seeth all iniquity,

If closely harboured in the sinner's breast,
And unrepented of and unconfest,
Will poison with its taint each vital part,
And at the last defy all healing art.

Therefore the great Physician with the knife
Would probe the wound, to save the precious life:
Thou, who art conscious of some sinful sore
Eating unseen into thine inmost core,

Go, seek the Healer, ask him to impart
Health to thy soul, and tell him all thy heart;
For better far confess the sin, than wait
Until the sickness spreads, and 'tis too late.

THE TALE OF OUR SINS.

"Who can tell how oft he offendeth?"

As many as the stars which in the Heavens are seen ;
As many as the flowers, strown gaily o'er the green ;
As many as the drops, descending in the shower;
As many as the leaves, which fall in Autumn's hour;
As many as the sands, which lie upon the shore,
So many are the sins, alas! which we deplore ;
Our only hope is in the blood

Of Jesus Christ, our Lord and God.

CHRISTIAN WISDOM.

"Christ the wisdom of God."

The highest wisdom this world hath to give
Can never teach us how we ought to live,
And yet, if this we know not, all we know
Doth but increase our heritage of woe.

If we would seek true wisdom to attain,
We first must know that Christ alone is gain;
The countless treasures of the Heavens and earth,
Lacking this treasure, are as nothing worth.

Long may we search with travail and with pain,
And think, because we find not, search is vain,
Yet must we still with patience persevere―
Oft, when we think him furthest, Christ is near.

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