Leave this tenement of clay, Quit its broken shattered walls; Through its ruins I descry Gleams of immortality.
2 Cease, my friends, to weep for me, I should rather mourn for you; Every woe and sin I flee,
Christ and heaven are in my view: Dare not wish my soul to stay, Angels beckon me away.
3 God hath sent His envoy, death; Earthly blessings I resign; Lord, to Thee I yield my breath, Take this ransomed soul of mine; Now my songs of joy shall be Ceaseless as eternity.
VITAL spark of heavenly flame! Quit, oh, quit this mortal frame; Trembling, hoping, lingering, flying, Oh the pain, the bliss of dying! Cease, fond nature, cease thy strife, And let me languish into life.
2 Hark! they whisper; angels say, "Sister spirit, come away."
-What is this absorbs me quite,- Steals my senses, shuts my sight,- Drowns my spirit, draws my breath? Tell me, my soul, can this be death?
3 The world recedes: it disappears: Heaven opens on my eyes; my ears With sounds seraphic ring.
Lend, lend your wings; I mount, I fly; O Grave, where is thy victory?
O Death, where is thy sting?
650 2 Cor. v. 2. 87's. MONTGOMERY.
SPIRIT, leave thy house of clay; Lingering dust, resign thy breath; Spirit, cast thy chains away;
Dust, be thou dissolved in death. Thus the Almighty Saviour speaks, While the faithful Christian dies: Thus the bonds of life he breaks, And the ransomed captive flies. 2 Prisoner, long detained below, Prisoner, now with freedom bless'd, Welcome from a world of woe; Welcome to a land of rest. Thus the choir of angels sing, As they bear the soul on high; While with hallelujahs ring All the regions of the sky.
3 Grave, the guardian of our dust, Grave, the treasury of the skies, Every atom of thy trust
Rests in hope again to rise.
Hark! the judgment-trumpet calls,- Soul, rebuild thy house of clay; Immortality thy walls,
And eternity thy day.
EATHLESS principle, arise; Soar, thou native of the skies: Pearl of price, by Jesus bought, To His glorious likeness wrought, Go, to shine before His throne; Deck His mediatorial crown. Go, His triumphs to adorn : Made for God, to God return.
2 Lo! He beckons from on high: Fearless to His presence fly. Thine the merit of His blood, Thine the righteousness of God. Angels, joyful to attend,
Hovering, round thy pillow bend; Wait to catch the signal given, And escort thee quick to heaven. 3 Is thine earthly house distressed, Willing to retain its guest? "Tis not thou, but it, must die, Fly, celestial tenant, fly.
Burst thy shackles, drop thy clay; Sweetly breathe thyself away; Singing, to thy crown remove, Swift of wing, and fired with love. 4 Shudder not to pass the stream; Venture all thy care on Him; Him whose dying love and power Stilled its tossing, hushed its roar. Safe is the expanded wave; Gentle as a summer's eve. Not one object of His care Ever suffered shipwreck there. 5 See the haven full in view;
Love divine shall bear thee through. Trust to that propitious gale; Weigh thy anchor, spread thy sail. Saints in glory perfect made, Wait thy passage through the shade: Ardent for thy coming o'er,
See, they throng the blissful shore. 6 Mount, their transports to improve; Join the longing choir above; Swiftly to their wish be given; Kindle higher joy in heaven.- Such the prospects that arise To the dying Christian's eyes; Such the glorious vista, faith Opens through the shades of death.
Thee, O Lord, I yield my spirit,
1Twho break'st in love this mortal chain:
My life I but from Thee inherit,
And death becomes my chiefest gain. In Thee I live, in Thee I die,
Content, for Thou art ever nigh.
EHOLD the western evening sky,
Bit melts in deeper gloom;
So calm the righteous sink away, Descending to the tomb.
2 The winds breathe low,-the yellow leaf Scarce whispers from the tree; So gently flows the parting breath, When good men cease to be.
3 How beautiful on all the hills The crimson light is shed! "Tis like the peace the dying gives To mourners round his bed.
4 How mildly on the wandering cloud The sunset beam is cast!
So sweet the memory left behind, When loved ones breathe their last. 5 And lo! above the dews of night The vesper-star appears;
So faith lights up the mourner's heart, Whose eyes are dim with tears.
6 Night falls, but soon the morning light Its glories shall restore;
And thus the eyes that sleep in death Shall wake, to close no more.
Isaiah xxv. 8. L. M. ELLIOTT'S SEL
GRAVE, thou hast the victory; Beauty and strength are laid with thee; Yet than earth's mightiest, mightier, O grave, thou hast thy Vanquisher.
2 Long in thy sight was man forlorn ; Long didst thou laugh his hope to scorn Till rose the Conqueror of death, Jesus, the Man of Nazareth.
3 He stood between us and despair; He bore, and gave us strength to bear; The mysteries of the grave unsealed, Our glorious destiny revealed.
4 Our home is not this mortal clime; Our life has not its bounds in time; And death is but a cloud that lies Between the soul and paradise.
HIS FINAL PEACE.
655 Matt. xxv. 21. D. S. M. MONTGOMERY.
NERVANT of God, well done! Rest from thy loved employ; The battle fought, the victory won, Enter thy Master's joy.
The voice at midnight came; He started up to hear;
A mortal arrow pierced his frame; He fell, but felt no fear.
2 At midnight came the cry,
"To meet thy God prepare!'
He woke, and caught his Captain's eye; Then strong in faith and prayer,
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