Divine Hymns or Spiritual Songs, for the use of religious assemblies and private Christians ‎#XXIV

XXIV. On the swiftness of Time

1 My days, my weeks, my months, my years,
Fly rapid as the whirling spheres
Around the steady pole;
Time, like the tide, its motion keeps,
Still I shall launch those boundless deeps,
Where endless ages roll.

2 The grave is near the cradle seen;
How swift the moments pass between,
And whisper as they fly,
Unthinking man! remember this,
Thou, midst thy sublunary bliss,
Must groan, and gasp, and die!

3 My soul, attend the solemn call;
Thine earthly tents must quickly fall
And thou must take thy flight
Beyond the vast extensive blue,
To sing above as angels do,
Or sink in endless night.

4 Eternal bliss, eternal woe,
Hangs on this inch of time below00
On this precarious breath;
The God of nature only knows
Whether another year may close,
Ere I expire in death.

5 Long ere the sun shall run its round,
I may be buried under ground,
And there in silence rot!
Alas! one hour may close the scene,
And ere twelve months shall roll between
My name be quite forgot.

6 But shall my soul be then extinct,
Or cease to live, or cease to think!
It cannot, cannot be;
Thou, my immortal, cannot die,
What wilt thou do, or whither fly,
When death shall set thee free?

7 Will mercy then its arm extend?
Will Jesus be thy guardian friend,
And heav'n thy dwelling-place?
Or shall insulting fiends appear
To drag thee down to dark despair,
Beyond the reach of grace?

8 A heaven or hell and these alone,
Beyond this mortal state are known,
There is no middle state:
To-day attend the call divine,
To-morrow may be none of thine,
Or it may be too late.

9 O! do not pass this life in dreams,
Vast is the change, whate'er it seems,
To poor unthinking men:
Lord, at this footstool I would bow,
Bid conscience tell me plainly now,
What it will tell me then.

10 If in destruction's roads I stray,
Help me to choose that better way,
Which leads to joys on high;
Thy grace impart, my guilt forgive,
Nor let me ever dare to live,
Such as I dare not die.

Text Information

• First Line: My days, my weeks, my months, my years
• Title: On the swiftness of Time
• Language: English
• Publication Date: 1802

Tune Information

(No tune information)