The Cyber Hymnal ‎#9514

9514. How Long Shall Earth's Alluring Toys

1 How long shall earth’s alluring toys
Detain our hearts and eyes;
Regardless of immortal joys,
And strangers to the skies.

2 These transient scenes will soon decay,
They fade upon the sight;
And quickly will their brightest day
Be lost in endless night.

3 Their brightest day, alas, how vain!
With conscious sights we own;
While clouds of sorrow, care and pain,
O’ershade the smiling noon.

4 O could our thought and wishes fly,
Above these gloomy shades,
To those bright worlds beyond the sky
Which sorrow ne’er invades.

5 There joys unseen by mortal eyes,
Or reason’s feeble ray,
In ever blooming prospect rise,
Unconscious of decay.

6 Lord, send a beam of light divine,
To guide our upward aim;
With one reviving touch of Thine,
Our languid hearts inflame.

7 Then shall on faith’s sublimest wing
Our ardent wishes rise
To those bright scenes, where pleasures spring
Immortal in the skies.

Text Information

• First Line: How long shall earth’s alluring toys
• Title: How Long Shall Earth's Alluring Toys
• Author: Anne Steele
• Meter: CM
• Language: English
• Source: Poems on Subjects Chiefly Devotional, 1760
• Copyright: Public Domain

Tune Information

• Name: BURLINGTON
• Composer: John Freclketon Burrowes (1830)
• Meter: CM
• Key: E♭ Major
• Copyright: Public Domain