It is not death to die

It is not death to die.George Washington Bethune* (1805-1862).  In JJ, p.139, this was noted by F.M. Bird as a translation from a hymn by Caesar Malan*, ‘Non, ce n’est pas mourir’, but W. G. Polack, in the Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal (1942, Third revised edition, 1958) points out that between Malan and Bethune there was a translation of Malan’s hymn by Albert Knapp*, ‘Nein, nein, das ist kein Sterben’. It was first published in Bethune’s Lays of Love and Faith. With other fugitive poems (Philadelphia, 1847). It had five stanzas:  It is not death to die -   To leave this weary road, And mid the brotherhood on high   To be at home with God.  It is not death to close   The eye long...

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