Why should we start and fear to die
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General information
'Why should we start and fear to die' is a hymn by Isaac Watts, published as Hymn 31 in Book 2 of his Hymns and Spiritual Songs.
Settings by composers (automated)
- Richard Taylor — Why should we start and fear to die English SATB
Text and translations
English text
1 Why should we start and fear to die?
What tim'rous worms we mortals are!
Death is the gate of endless joy,
And yet we dread to enter there.
2 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.
3 Oh! if my Lord would come and meet,
My soul should stretch her wings in haste,
Fly fearless through death's iron gate,
Nor feel the terrors as she pass'd.
4 Jesus can make a dying bed
Feel soft as downy pillows are,
While on his breast I lean my head,
And breathe my life out sweetly there.