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The Southern harmony, and musical companion

containing a choice collection of tunes, hymns, psalms, odes, and anthems

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[Life is the time to serve the Lord]
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

[Life is the time to serve the Lord]

[_]

The following poem is scored for music in the source text.

1.

Life is the time to serve the Lord,
The time t'ensure the great reward;
And while the lamp holds out to burn,
The vilest sinner may return

2.

Life is the hour that God has giv'n
To 'scape from hell, and fly to heaven;
The day of grace, and mortals may
Secure the blessings of the day.

3.

The living know that they must die,
But all the dead forgotten lie,
Their memory and their sense is gone,
Alike unknowing and unknown

4.

Their hatred and their love is lost,
Their envy buried in the dust;
They have no share in all that's done
Beneath the circuit of the sun.

5.

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.

6.

There are no acts of pardon past
In the cold grave to which we haste.
But darkness, death, and long despair
Reign in eternal silence there