Eternity! Eter­ni­ty!
How long art thou, Eter­ni­ty!
And yet to thee time hastes away,
Like as the war­horse to the fray,
Or swift as cou­ri­ers home­ward go,
Or ship to port, or shaft from bow.
Ponder, O Man, Eter­ni­ty!

Eternity! Eter­ni­ty!
How long art thou, Eter­ni­ty!
For even as on a per­fect sphere
End nor be­gin­ning can ap­pear,
E’en so, Eter­ni­ty, in thee
Entrance nor exit can there be.
Ponder, O Man, Eter­ni­ty!

Eternity! Eter­ni­ty!
How long art thou, Eter­ni­ty!
A cir­cle in­fi­ni­te art thou,
Thy cen­ter an Eter­nal Now,
Never, we name thy out­er bound,
For ne­ver end there­in is found.
Ponder, O Man, Eter­ni­ty!

Eternity! Eter­ni­ty!
How long art thou, Eter­ni­ty!
A lit­tle bird with fret­ting beak
Might wear to naught the lof­ti­est peak,
Though but each thou­sand years it came,
Yet thou wert then, as now, the same.
Ponder, O Man, Eter­ni­ty!

Eternity! Eter­ni­ty!
How long art thou, Eter­ni­ty!
As long as God is God, so long
Endure the pains of sin and wrong,
So long the joys of Heav’n re­main;
Oh last­ing joy, Oh last­ing pain!
Ponder, O Man, Eter­ni­ty!

Eternity! Eter­ni­ty!
How long art thou, Eter­ni­ty!
O Man, full oft thy thoughts should dwell
Upon the pains of sin and hell,
And on the glo­ries of the pure,
That both be­yond all time en­dure,
Ponder, O Man, Eter­ni­ty!

Eternity! Eter­ni­ty!
How long art thou, Eter­ni­ty!
How ter­ri­ble art thou in woe,
How fair where joys for ev­er glow!
God’s good­ness shed­deth glad­ness here,
His jus­tice there wakes bit­ter fear.
Ponder, O Man, Eter­ni­ty!

Eternity! Eter­ni­ty!
How long art thou, Eter­ni­ty!
They who lived poor and nak­ed rest
With God, for ev­er rich and blest,
And love and praise the High­est Good,
In per­fect bliss and glad­some mood.
Ponder, O Man, Eter­ni­ty!

Eternity! Eter­ni­ty!
How long art thou, Eter­ni­ty!
A mo­ment lasts all joy be­low,
Whereby man sinks to end­less woe,
A mo­ment lasts all earth­ly pain,
Whereby an end­less joy we gain,
Ponder, O Man, Eter­ni­ty!

Eternity! Eter­ni­ty!
How long art thou, Eter­ni­ty!
Who pon­ders oft on thee, is wise,
All flesh­ly lusts will he des­pise,
The world finds place with him no more;
The love of vain de­lights is o’er.
Ponder, O Man, Eter­ni­ty!

Eternity! Eter­ni­ty!
How long art thou, Eter­ni­ty!
Who marks thee well would say to God,
Here judge, burn, smite me with Thy rod,
Here let me all Thy jus­tice bear,
When time of grace is past, then spare!
Ponder, O Man, Eter­ni­ty!

Eternity! Eter­ni­ty!
How long art thou, Eter­ni­ty!
Lo, I, Eter­ni­ty, warn thee,
O Man, that oft thou think on me,
The sin­ner’s pun­ish­ment and pain,
To them who love their God, rich gain!
Ponder, O Man, Eter­ni­ty!