Hymnal: The Christian Hymn-Book
Date: 1815
Compiler: John Thompson et al
Publisher/Printer: Looker and Wallace
First Line: Oft as the bell with solemn toll
Topic: Funeral Hymns
Writer: <no first name given> <no last name given>
Composer:
Meter: LM
Tune:
Hymn Number: 227
Page Number: 201, click to see hymnal pages
LyicsOft as the bell with solemn toll,
Speaks the departure of a soul;
Let each one ask himself, "Am I
Prepared, should I be called, to die?"
Only this frail, this fleeting breath,
Preserves me from the jaws of death;
Soon as it fails, at once I'm gone,
And plunged into a world unknown.
Then leaving all I loved below,
To God's tribunal I must go:
Must hear the Judge pronounce my fate,
And fix my everlasting state.
But could I bear to hear him say,
"Depart, accursed, far away;
"With Satan, in the lowest hell,
"Thou art forever doomed to dwell."
Lord Jesus! Help me now to flee,
And seek my hope alone in thee;
Apply thy blood, thy Spirit give,
Subdue my sin, and let me live.
Then, when the solemn bell I hear,
If saved from sin, I need not fear:
Nor would the thought distressing be-
" Perhaps it next may toil for me."