Why will ye waste on trifling cares That life which God’s compassion spares; While, in the various range of thought, The one thing needful is forgot?
2 Shall God invite you from above? Shall Jesus urge his dying love? Shall troubled conscience give you pain? And all these pleas unite in vain?
3 Not so your eyes will always view Those objects which you now pursue: Not so will heaven and hell appear When death’s decisive hour is near.
4 Almighty God! thy power impart; Fix deep conviction on each heart; Nor let us waste on trifling cares That life which thy compassion spares.
283 L. M. The broad and the narrow way. Matt. 7:13, 14.
Broad is the road that leads to death; And thousands walk together there; But wisdom shows a narrow path, With here and there a traveler.
2 “Deny thyself, and take thy cross,” Is the Redeemer’s great command; Nature must count her gold but dross, If she would gain this heavenly land.
3 The fearful soul that tires and faints, And walks the ways of God no more, Is but esteemed almost a saint, And makes his own destruction sure.
4 Lord, let my hopes be not in vain, Create my heart entirely new; This hypocrites could ne’er attain; This false apostates never knew.
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.
285 C. M. Come, for all things are now ready. Luke 14:17.
Come, sinners, to the gospel feast; O, do no longer stay; Let every soul be Jesus’ guest, O, do no longer stay away! CHORUS. O, do no longer stay away, For now your Saviour calls, And the gospel sounds the jubilee; O, do no longer stay away.
2 Hark! ’tis the Saviour’s gracious call, The invitation is to all; Come, all the world—come, sinner, thou— All things in Christ are ready now.
3 Come, all you souls by sin oppressed, You weary wanderers after rest; You poor and maimed, and halt and blind, In Christ a hearty welcome find.
4 The message, as from God, receive— You all may come to Christ and live; O let his love your hearts constrain, Nor suffer him to call in vain.
5 This is the time—no more delay; The Saviour calls you all to-day: O may his call effectual prove! Accept the offers of his love!
286 C. M. Hear and your soul shall live. Isaiah 55:3.
Let every mortal ear attend, And every heart rejoice; The trumpet of the gospel sounds With an inviting voice:
2 Ho! all you hungry, starving souls, Who feed upon the wind, And vainly strive with earthly toys To fill an empty mind.
3 Eternal wisdom has prepared A soul-reviving feast, And bids your longing appetites The rich provision taste.
4 Ho! you that pant for living streams, And pine away and die, Here may you quench your raging thirst With springs that never dry.
5 Rivers of love and mercy here In a rich ocean join; Salvation in abundance flows, Like floods of milk and wine.
6 Great God! the treasures of thy love Are everlasting mines, Deep as our helpless miseries are, And boundless as our sins.
7 The happy gates of gospel grace Stand open night and day: Lord, we are come to seek supplies, And drive our wants away.
287 C. M. For there is no difference. Rom. 10:12.
How free and boundless is the grace Of our redeeming God! Extending to the Greek and Jew, And men of every blood.
2 Come, all you wretched sinners, come, He’ll form your souls anew; His gospel and his heart have room For rebels such as you.
3 His doctrine is almighty love; There’s virtue in his name To turn a raven to a dove, A lion to a lamb.
4 Come, then, accept the offered grace, And make no more delay; His love will all your guilt efface, And soothe your fears away.
288 C. M. Let him return unto the Lord. Isaiah 55:7.
Return, O wanderer, now return, And seek thy Father’s face; Those new desires which in thee burn Were kindled by his grace.
2 Return, O wanderer, now return! He hears thy humble sigh! He sees thy softened spirit mourn, When no one else is nigh.