284
L. M.
Ecclesiastes 9:10.
Life is the time to serve the Lord,
The time t’ insure the great reward;
And while the lamp holds out to burn,
O hasten, sinner, to return!
2 Life is the hour that God has given
To ’scape from hell and fly to heaven,
The day of grace, when mortals may
Secure the blessings of the day.
3 The living know that they must die,
Beneath the clods their dust must lie;
Then have no share in all that’s done
Beneath the circle of the sun.
4 Then what my thoughts design to do,
My hands, with all your might pursue:
Since no device nor work is found,
Nor faith, nor hope, beneath the ground.
5 There are no acts of pardon passed
In the cold grave to which we haste;
O may we all receive thy grace,
And see with joy thy smiling face.
Watts.