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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.

649

1

1 Cor. xv. 55. P. M.

POPE

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.

1

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.

651 2 Cor. v. 8.

8 7's.

1 D

TOPLADY.

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.

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Thee, O Lord, I yield my spirit,

P.M.

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.

653

1

Isaiah lvii. 2. C. M.

PEABODY.

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.

654

10

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.

1

SE

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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