899. L. M. Doddridge.
The Closing Year.
1God of our life! thy constant care
With blessings crowns each opening year:
These lives so frail thy love prolongs;
Be this the burden of our songs.
2How many precious souls are fled
To the vast regions of the dead,
Since, from this day, the changing sun
Through his last yearly course has run!
3We yet survive, but who can say,
Or through the year, or month, or day,
We shall retain this vital breath,
Secure from all the shafts of death?
4We hold our lives from thee alone,
On earth, or in the worlds unknown;
To thee our spirits we resign,
Make them and own them all as thine.
5Great Source of wisdom, teach my heart
To know the price of every hour,
That time may bear me on to joys
Beyond its measure and its power.