[Music]
Say now, ye lovely social band,
Who walk the way to Canaan's land;
Ye who have fled from Sodom's plain,
Say do you wish to turn again?
O have you ventured to the field,
Well arm'd with helmet, sword and shield?
And shall the world with dread alarms,
Compel you now to ground your arms?
Beware of pleasure's siren song,
Alas, it cannot soothe thee long.
It cannot quiet Jordan's wave,
Nor cheer the dark and silent grave.
O what contentment did you find,
While love of pleasure ruled your mind?
No sweet reflection lulled your rest,
Nor conscious virtue calmed your breast.
O, come, young soldiers, count the cost,
And say, what pleasures have you lost?
Or what misfortune does it bring,
To have Jehovah for your king?
Shall sin entice you back again,
And bind you with its iron chain?
Has vice to you such lovely charms,
That you must die within its arms?
Is folly's way the way of peace,
Where fear, and pain, and sorrow cease?
Does pleasure roll its living stream,
And is religion all a dream?
Say, what contentment did you find
When love of pleasure ruled your mind?
No sweet reflection gave you rest,
Nor conscious virtue calm'd your breast.
Tune found also in CHI 12, KNH 109, UH 63, SOC 168, HH 28, SKH 47, GOS
26. The text, taken from the _Dover Selection_, as well as the tune,
attributed to 'Chapin', seem to be closely related to a Christmas
carol in JFSS, ii., 115. Its first stanza begins: "Come all ye
faithful Christians, That dwell within this land. That pass your time
in rioting, Remember you are but man." The English folk-song, 'Just as
the Tide Was a-Flowing', has an almost identical tune. See Gould and
Sharp, _English Folk-Songs for Schools_, p. 52.
No. 94
MECKLINBURG, SKH 30