Why should we start and fear to die

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.