Hymnal: The Christian Hymn-Book
Date: 1829
Compiler: B W Stone and T Adams
Publisher/Printer: N L Finnell
First Line: Why should we start and fear to die
Topic: Funeral
Writer: <no first name given> <no last name given>
Composer:
Meter: LM
Tune:
Hymn Number: 266
Page Number: 293, click to see hymnal pages
LyicsWhy should we start and fear to die?
What tim'rous worms we mortals are!
Death is the gate of endless joy,
And yet we dread to enter there.
The pains, the groans, and dying strife,
Fright our approaching souls away;
Still we shrink back again to life,
Fond of our prison and our clay.
O! if my Lord would come and meet,
My soul would stretch her wings in haste,
Fly fearless thro' death's iron gate,
Nor feel the terrors as she pass'd.
Jesus can make a dying bed
Feel soft as downy pillows are,
While on his breast I lean my head,
And breathe my life out sweetly there.