Angels joyful to attend,
Hovering round thy pillow, bend;
Wait to catch the signal given,
And escort thee quick to heaven.

Is thy earthly house distressed?
Willing to retain its rest?
'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.

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 as the expanded wave,

Gentle as the summer's eve;

Not one object of His care
Ever suffered shipwreck there.

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.

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.

TOPLADY.

CHRIST'S ABIDING PRESENCE.

John xiv. 23.

ABIDE with me, fast falls the eventide;
The darkness thickens: Lord, with me abide;
All other helpers fail, and comforts flee;
Help of the helpless, O abide with me!

Swift to its close ebbs our life's little day;
Earth's joys grows dim, its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see;
O Thou, who changest not, abide with me!

Not a brief glance, I ask, a passing word;
But as Thou dwell'st with Thy disciples, Lord;
Familiar, condescending, patient, free,
Come not to sojourn, but abide with me.

Come not in terrors, as the King of Kings,
But kind and meek, with healing in Thy wings;
Tears for our woes, a heart for every plea;

O Friend of sinners, so abide with me.

Thou on my head in early youth didst smile, And though rebellious and perverse in guile, Thou didst not leave me, though I oft left Thee: O to the end, O Lord, abide with me.

I need Thy presence every passing hour;
What but Thy grace can meet the tempter's power?
Who, as Thyself, my guide and stay can be,
Through cloud and sunshine? O abide with me.

I fear no foe with Thee at hand to bless;
Ills lose their weight, and tears their bitterness.
Death! where's thy sting? where, grave, thy victory?
My triumph's sure, if Thou abide with me.

Reveal Thyself before my closing eyes,

Heaven's morning breaks, and earth's vain shadows flee;

Shine through the gloom, and point me to the skies: In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

REV. F. LYTE.

THE LORD'S DAY MORNING.

DEAR is the hallowed morn to me,
When village bells awake the day;
And, by their sacred minstrelsy,
Call me from earthly cares away.

And dear to me the winged hour,
Spent in Thy hallowed courts, O Lord!
To feel devotion's soothing power,
And catch the manna of Thy word.

And dear to me the loud Amen,

Which echoes through the blest abode, Which swells, and sinks, and swells again, Dies on the walls, but lives to God.

And dear the rustic harmony,

Sung with the pomp of village art;

That holy, heavenly melody,

The music of a thankful heart.

In secret I have often prayed,

And still the anxious tears would fall;

But, in Thy sacred presence shed,
The fire descends, and dries them all.

Oft when the world, with iron hands,
Has bound me in its six days' chain,
This bursts them, like the strong men's bands,
And lets my spirit loose again.

Then dear to me the Sabbath morn,

The village bells, the shepherd's voice; These oft have found my heart forlorn, And always bade that heart rejoice.

Go, man of pleasure, strike thy lyre,
Of broken Sabbaths sing the charms;
Our's be the prophet's car of fire,
That bears us to a Father's arms.

RESIGNATION.

DID I ask for the wings of a dove,

That impatient from grief I might flee?

Did I wish to be soaring above,

Uncalled, Lord, unbidden by Thee?

Unwilling to suffer below,

Am I weary of doing Thy will? Would I hasten from labour and woe, Nor wait Thy designs to fulfil ?

Forgotten the privilege given,
To suffer for Him I adore,
Would I fly univited to heaven,

Because I would struggle no more?