Text: | Preparing for Death |
1 Oft as the bell with solemn toll
Speaks the departure of a soul,
Let each one ask himself, am I
Prepar'd, should I be call'd to die!
2 Only this frail and fleeting breath,
Preserves me with the jaws of death;
Soon as it fails, at once I'm gone,
And plung'd into a world unknown.
3 Then leaving all I loved below,
To GOD's tribunal I must go;
Must hear the Judge pronounce my fate,
And fix my everlasting state.
4 But could I bear to hear him say,
"Depart, accursed far away;
With devils in the lowest hell
Thou art forever doom'd to dwell.
5 LORD JESUS! help me now to flee,
And seek my hope alone in thee;
Apply thy blood, thy spirit give,
Subdue my sin, and in me live.
6 Then, when the solemn bell I hear,
If sav'd from guilt, I need not fear,
Now would the thought distressing be,
Perhaps it next may toll for me.
7 Rather my spirits would rejoice,
And wait impatient for thy voice;
Glad when it bids me earth resign,
Secure of heaven, if thou art mine.
Text Information | |
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First Line: | Oft as the bell with solemn toll |
Title: | Preparing for Death |
Meter: | Long Metre |
Language: | English |
Publication Date: | 1790 |
Topic: | After Sermon |
Source: | The Coll. |