And am I only born to die

And am I only born to die. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788). This hymn is closely related to ‘And am I born to die’* in Charles Wesley’s Hymns for Children (Bristol, 1763). It is found immediately after it in John Wesley*’s A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People called Methodists (1780). Much of what is said about that hymn and its suitability for children applies also to the present one. It had six 6-line stanzas. The child is encouraged to think about life after death, and the possibility of heaven or hell, and discouraged from ‘mirth or trifling’ (stanza 3). The first three stanzas were as follows in 1763: And am I only born to die? And must I suddenly comply   With nature’s stern...