And am I only born to die

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General information

And am I only born to die is a hymn by Charles Wesley, originally published in Hymns for Children, 1763, as Hymn 64, with meter 886. 886. [1] This is not to be confused with And am I born to die (meter 66. 86. D (S.M.D.), published in the same book as Hymn 59.

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Text and translations

English.png English text

And am I only born to die?
And must I suddenly comply
With nature's stern decree?
What after death for me remains:
Celestial joys or hellish pains,
To all eternity?

How then ought I on earth to live,
While God prolongs the kind reprieve,
And props the house of clay!
My sole concern, my single care,
To watch, and tremble, and prepare
Against the fatal day!

No room for mirth or trifling here,
For worldly hope, or worldly fear,
If life so soon is gone:
If now the Judge is at the door,
And all mankind must stand before
Th'inexorable throne!

No matter which my thoughts employ,
A moment's misery, or joy;
But O! when both shall end,
Where shall I find my destined place?
Shall I my everlasting days
With fiends or angels spend?

Nothing is worth a thought beneath,
But how I may escape the death
That never, never dies!
How make mine own election sure,
And, when I fail on earth, secure
A mansion in the skies!

Jesus, vouchsafe a pitying ray:
Be thou my guide, be thou my way
To glorious happiness!
Ah, write the pardon on my heart,
And whensoe'er I hence depart,
Let me depart in peace.
 

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