5 Before we quite forsake our clay, Or leave this dark abode, The wings of love bear us away To see our smiling God. Hymn 2:39. The shortness and misery of life. 1 Our days, alas! our mortal days Are short and wretched too; "Evil and few," the patriarch says, [1] And well the patriarch knew. 2 'Tis but at best a narrow bound That heaven allows to men, And pains and sins run thro' the round Of threescore years and ten. 3 Well, if ye must be sad and few, Run on, my days, in haste; Moments of sin, and months of woe, Ye cannot fly too fast. 4 Let heavenly love prepare my soul, And call her to the skies, Where years of long salvation roll, And glory never dies. [1] Genesis 47:9. Hymn 2:40. Our comfort in the covenant made with Christ. 1 Our God, how firm his promise stands, E'en when he hides his face! He trusts in our Redeemer's hands His glory and his grace. 2 Then why, my soul, these sad complaints, Since Christ and we are one; Thy God is faithful to his saints, Is faithful to his Son. 3 Beneath his smiles my heart has liv'd, And part of heaven possess'd; I praise his Name for grace receiv'd, And trust him for the rest. Hymn 2:41. A sight of God mortifies us to the world. 1 [Up to the fields where angels lie, And living waters gently roll, Fain would my thoughts leap out and fly, But sin hangs heavy on my soul. 2 Thy wondrous blood, dear dying Christ, Can make this load of guilt remove; And thou canst bear me where thou fly'st, On thy kind wings, celestial Dove!] 3 O might I once mount up and see The glories of th' eternal skies, What little things these worlds would be! How despicable to my eyes! 4 Had I a glance of thee, my God, Kingdoms and men would vanish soon, Vanish, as tho' I saw them not, As a dim candle dies at noon. 5 Then they might fight, and rage, and rave, I should perceive the noise no more Than we can hear a shaking leaf, While rattling thunders round us roar. 6 Great All in All, eternal King, Let me but view thy lovely face, And all my powers shall bow and sing Thine endless grandeur and thy grace. Hymn 2:42. Delight in God. 1 My God, what endless pleasures dwell Above at thy right-hand! The courts below, how amiable, Where all thy graces stand! 2 The swallow near thy temple lies, And chirps a cheerful note; The lark mounts upward to thy skies, And tunes her warbling throat: 3 And we, when in thy presence, Lord, We shout with joyful tongues, Or sitting round our Father's board, We crown the feast with songs. 4 While Jesus shines with quickening grace, We sing and mount on high; But if a frown becloud his face, We faint, and tire, and die. 5 [Just as we see the lonesome dove Bemoan her widow'd state, Wandering she flies thro' all the grove, And mourns her loving mate. 6 Just so our thoughts from thing to thing In restless circles rove, Just so we drop, and hang the wing, When Jesus hides his love.] Hymn 2:43. Christ's sufferings and glory.