Alas! how swift the moments fly!
How flash the years along!
Scarce here, yet gone already by,
The burden of a song.
See childhood, youth, and manhood pass,
And age, with furrowed brow;
Time was—Time shall be—drain the glass—
But where in Time is now?

Time is the measure but of change;
No present hour is found;
The past, the future, fill the range
Of Time’s unceasing round.
Where, then is now? In realms above,
With God’s atoning Lamb,
In regions of eternal love,
Where sits enthroned I AM.

Then pilgrim, let thy joys and tears
On Time no longer lean;
But henceforth all thy hopes and fears
From earth’s affections wean:
To God let votive accents rise;
With truth, with virtue, live;
So all the bliss that Time denies
Eternity shall give.

Oh, sinner, turn to Jesus now,
No longer make delay;
Since Jesus died on Calvary,
And opened up the way.

Refrain

Oh won’t you come to Jesus, be saved today,
He’s earnestly pleading for all;
The time will come when ’twill be too late,
Too late to answer the call.

The invitation is to you,
Oh, come without delay;
While Jesus pleads so tenderly,
Now won’t you come today?

Refrain

The Lord has been so good to you,
And saved you from all harm;
But still He says, “My Spirit shall
Not always strive with man.”

Refrain

The time will come, when Christ will say,
Your days on earth are o’er;
When you are doomed and cast away,
You’ll hear My voice no more.

Refrain

Time, with an unwearied hand,
Pushes round the seasons past,
And in life’s frail glass, the sand
Sinks apace, not long to last:
Many, well as you or I,
Who last year assembled thus;
In their silent graves now lie,
Graves will open soon for us!

Daily sin, and care, and strife,
While the Lord prolongs our breath,
Make it but a dying life,
Or a kind of living death:
Wretched they, and most forlorn,
Who no better portion know;
Better ne’er to have been born,
Than to have our all below.

When constrained to go alone,
Leaving all you love behind;
Entering on a world unknown,
What will then support your mind?
When the Lord His summons sends,
Earthly comforts lose their power;
Honors, riches, kindred, friends,
Cannot cheer a dying hour.

Happy souls who fear the Lord
Time is not too swift for you;
When your Savior gives the word,
Glad you’ll bid the world adieu:
Then He’ll wipe away your tears,
Near Himself appoint your place;
Swifter fly, ye rolling years,
Lord, we long to see Thy face.