Death

Representative Text

1 Ye sons of men, the warning take;
A moment brings us all to dust.
Awake from sin: from sloth awake;
Reflect in what you put your trust.

2 Life is a lily, fair to-day:
To-morrow into th' oven thrown.
Health soon will fail, and strength decay,
No help in power, in richness none.

3 Ah! what avails the pompous pall,
The sable stoles, the plumed hearse?
To rot within some sacred wall,
Or wound a stone with lying verse!

4 'Tis destin'd all men once to die,
And after death receive their doom.
Then whether will th' ungodly fly?
Or those who carelessly presume?

5 Blessed are they, and only they,
Who in the Lord, their Saviour, die;
Their bodies wait redemption's day,
And sleep in peace where'er they lie.

6 Where is thy victory, where thysting,
Thou grisly king of terrors, Death?
We worms defy thee while we sing,
And trample on thy power by faith.

Source: A Selection of Hymns for Public Worship. In four parts (10th ed.) (Gadsby's Hymns) #839

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Author: J. Hart

Hart, Joseph, was born in London in 1712. His early life is involved in obscurity. His education was fairly good; and from the testimony of his brother-in-law, and successor in the ministry in Jewin Street, the Rev. John Hughes, "his civil calling was" for some time "that of a teacher of the learned languages." His early life, according to his own Experience which he prefaced to his Hymns, was a curious mixture of loose conduct, serious conviction of sin, and endeavours after amendment of life, and not until Whitsuntide, 1757, did he realize a permanent change, which was brought about mainly through his attending divine service at the Moravian Chapel, in Fetter Lane, London, and hearing a sermon on Rev. iii. 10. During the next two years ma… Go to person page >

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