The End of Life

Verse 1

And am I only born to die? And must I suddenly comply With nature’s stern decree? What after death for me remains? Celestial joys, or hellish pains, To all eternity.

Verse 2

How then ought I on earth to live, While God prolongs the kind reprieve, And props the house of clay; My sole concern, my single care, To watch, and tremble, and prepare Against the fatal day!

Verse 3

No room for mirth or trifling here, For worldly hope, or worldly fear, If life so soon is gone; If now the judge is at the door, And all mankind must stand before The inexorable throne!

Verse 4

Nothing is worth a thought beneath, But how I may escape the death That never, never dies! How make mine own election sure; And when I fail on earth, secure A mansion in the skies.

Verse 5

Jesus, vouchsafe a pitying ray, Be Thou my guide, be Thou my way To glorious happiness. Ah! write the pardon on my heart; And whensoe’er I hence depart, Let me depart in peace.