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⟨Ecclesiastes⟩ ix. 4, 5, 6, 10.
AS long as life its term extends,
Hope's bleſt dominion never ends;
For while the lamp holds on to burn,
The greateſt ſinner may return.
2 Life is the ſeaſon God hath giv'n
To fly from hell, and riſe to heav'n;
That day of grace fleets faſt away,
And none its rapid courſe can ſtay.
3 The living know that they muſt die;
But all the dead forgotten ly:
Their mem'ry and their name is gone,
Alike unknowing, and unknown.
4 Their hatred and their love is loſt,
Their envy bury'd in the duſt;
They have no ſhare in all that's done
Beneath the circuit of the ſun.
5 Then, what thy thoughts deſign to do,
Still let thy hands with might purſue;
Since no device nor work is found,
Nor wiſdom, underneath the ground.
6 In the cold grave, to which we haſte,
There are no acts of pardon paſt;
But fix'd the doom of all remains,
And everlaſting ſilence reigns.
FINIS.
Falkirk—T. Johnston, Printer.
