1 Who knows how near my end may be?
Time speeds away, and death comes on;
How swiftly, ah! how suddenly,
May death be here and life be gone!
My God, for Jesus’ sake I pray
Thy peace may bless my dying day.
2 The world that smiled when morn was come
May change for me ere close of eve;
So long as earth is still my home
In peril of my death I live.
My God, for Jesus’ sake I pray
Thy peace may bless my dying day.
3 Teach me to ponder oft my end,
And ere the hour of death appears,
To cast my soul on Christ, her Friend,
Nor spare repentant sighs and tears.
My God, for Jesus’ sake I pray
Thy peace may bless my dying day.
4 And let me now so order all,
That ever ready I may be
To say with joy, Whate’er befall,
Lord, do Thou as Thou wilt with me.
My God, for Jesus’ sake I pray
Thy peace may bless my dying day.
5 Let heav'n to me be ever sweet,
And this world bitter let me find,
That I, 'mid all its toil and heat,
May keep eternity in mind.
My God, for Jesus' sake I pray
Thy peace may bless my dying day.
6 Then death may come, or tarry yet,
I know in Christ I perish not,
He never will His own forget;
He gives me robes without a spot.
My God, for Jesus’ sake I pray
Thy peace may bless my dying day.
Source: Hymnal and Prayer Book: compiled by the Lutheran Church Board for Army and Navy of the Ev. Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and other states, and of the joint Ev. Lutheran Synod of...(3rd. ed.) #47