CLOSING SCHOOL.

326 Blessing asked.

ON

what has now been sown,
Thy blessing, Lord! bestów;

The power is thine alone

To make it spring and grow:

P. M.

Do thou the gracious harvest raise,
And thou, alone, shalt have the praise.

327

Directions.

C. M.

NOW, children, to God's house repair,

And with the holy throng

O give your hearts to humble prayer,
And raise the cheerful song.

2 Praise God, whose mercies brought you here, Whose goodness keeps you still;

Whose grace with joy your souls can cheer, Whose power subdues your will.

3 Improve the strength you here have gained To do his holy will.

Improve the knowledge here attained,
To love and serve him still.

4 Let not the world have cause to say,
You served your God for nought;
But grow in grace from day to day,
As you have here been taught.

328

C. M.

1

Reflection.

AND now another hour is past,

Of kind instruction given;

And this, perhaps, may be the last
On this side hell or heaven.

2 And is it so? How dread the thought,
And yet indeed how true!
If I could feel it as I ought,
This day, what should I do?

3 0, surely prize it more and more,
And pray that God would give
A death of gain, if life be d'er,
And blessing if I live,

THE YEAR.

329

Many have died.

7's.

WHILE with ceaseless course the sun

Hasted through the former year;

Many souls their race have run,
Never more to meet us here;

Fixed in their eternal state,

They have done with all below;

We a little longer wait,

But how little none can know.

2 As the winged arrow flies,
Speedily, the mark to find;
As the lightning from the skies

Darts, and leaves no trace behind;
Swiftly thus our fleeting days

Bear us down life's rapid stream;
Upward, Lord, our spirits raise,
All below is but a dream.

3 Thanks for mercies past receive,
Pardon of our sins renew;
Teach us henceforth how to live,
With eternity in view.

1

Bless thy word to young and old,
Fill us with a Saviour's love;
And when life's short tale is told,
May we dwell with thee above.

330

Time flies.

C. M.

QUGb soon, alas, they're gone!
Life's gayest scenes decline in haste,
Just like the setting sun.

UICKLY my days have passed away,

2 Always in motion, ne'er at rest,
My minutes onward roll;
Swift to pursue their destined course,
And soon to reach the goal.

3 Eternal pains, or endless joys,
Stand waiting at the door;

The moments past, or those to come,
Are not within my power.

4 God of my strength and of my hope,
In whom I live and move,

Help me by thine instructive grace
The present to improve.

5 And if through this revolving year
Thou shouldst ray life prolong,
O may thy wisdom guide my steps,
Thy praise employ my tongue.

1

331

Recollection of Sin.

THIS year is hastening too away,
The hours are closing fast;
My heart, alas! has much to say
About the time that's past.

C. M.

2 How oft I've risen from my bed,
And not remembered prayer;
Or if the words of prayer I've said,
My thoughts have been elsewhere.
3 Ill temper, passions, hateful pride,

Have grieved my friends and Thee;
And seldom I've sincerely tried,
Gentle and good to be.

4 But, Lord, thou hast already known
More of my guilt than I;

There's not a fault that I can own
Too small for God to spy.

332

GR

God has preserved us.

L. M.

REAT God! we sing that mighty hand
By which supported still we stand;

The opening year thy mercy shows;
Let mercy crown it, till it close.

2 By day, at night, at home, abroad,
Still we are guarded by our God;
By his incessant bounty fed,
By his unerring counsel led.

4 In scenes exalted or depressed,
Be thou our joy, and thou our rest;
Thy goodness all our hope shall raise,
Adored through all our changing days.
5 When death shall interrupt our songs,
And seal in silence mortal tongues;
Thy praises shall our lips employ
In the eternal world of joy.

MISSIONARY.

333 The Bible for the Heathen.

SEE

EE that heathen mother stand Where the sacred currents flow; With her own maternal band,

'Mid the waves her infant throw!

7's

2 Hark! I hear the piteous scream; Frightful monsters seize their prey; Or the dark and bloody stream Bears the struggling child away. 3 Fainter now, and fainter still, Breaks the cry upon the ear; But the mother's heart is steel, She, unmoved, that cry can hear. 4 Send, O send, the Bible there;

Let its precepts reach the heart; She may then her children spare, She may act the mother's part.