Why should we start and fear to die
Why should we start and fear to die. Isaac Watts* (1674-1748).
From Watts’s Hymns and Spiritual Songs (1707), where it was entitled ‘Christ’s Presence makes Death easy’:
Why should we start and fear to die?
What timorous Worms we Mortals are!
Death is the Gate of endless Joy,
And yet we dread to enter there.
The Pains, the Groans, and dying Strife
Fright our approaching Souls away;
Still we shrink back again to Life,
Fond of our Prison and our Clay.
O, if my Lord would come and meet,
My Soul should stretch her Wings in hast,
Fly fearless thro’ Death’s Iron Gate,
Nor feel the Terrors as she past.
Jesus can make a dying Bed
Feel soft as downy Pillows...
If you have a valid subscription to Dictionary of Hymnology, please log inlog in to view this content. If you require a subscription, please click here.
MLA style (see MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing, 3rd Ed.)
. "Why should we start and fear to die."
The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press. Web. 9 Oct. 2024.<
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/w/why-should-we-start-and-fear-to-die>.
Chicago style (see The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Ed.)
. "Why should we start and fear to die."
The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press, accessed October 9, 2024,
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/w/why-should-we-start-and-fear-to-die.