Hymn
The Death and Burial of a Saint
Why do we mourn departing friends,
Or shake at death’s alarms?
’Tis but the voice that Jesus sends
To call them to His arms.
Are we not tending upward, too,
As fast as time can move?
Nor would we wish the hours more slow,
To keep us from our Love.
Why should we tremble to convey
Their bodies to the tomb?
There the dear flesh of Jesus lay,
And scattered all the gloom.
The graves of all the saints He blessed,
And softened every bed;
Where should the dying members rest,
But with their dying Head?
Thence He arose, ascending high,
And showed our feet the way;
Up to the Lord we, too, shall fly
At the great rising-day.
Then let the last loud trumpet sound,
And bid our kindred rise;
Awake! ye nations under ground,
Ye saints, ascend the skies!
The Death and Burial of a Saint — Text from Evangelical Lutheran Hymn-book, 1918. Public domain. https://yeshuanow.com/hymns/the-death-and-burial-of-a-saint
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Questions about this hymn
Who wrote The Death and Burial of a Saint?
The words of The Death and Burial of a Saint were written by Isaac Watts; the version here was published in 1918. The library holds 248 more hymns by Isaac Watts, including A Psalm for the Lord's Day and Our Own Weakness, and Christ Our Strength.
Is The Death and Burial of a Saint public domain?
Yes. The words here are taken from Evangelical Lutheran Hymn-book, published in 1918. Works published before 1931 are out of copyright in the United States, so you can print, project, perform and record this hymn freely. How we source and check every hymn.
What is the metre of The Death and Burial of a Saint?
The Death and Burial of a Saint is in Common Metre (8.6.8.6). Hymns in the same metre can usually be sung to the same tunes — for example, Now that the Sun Is Beaming Bright, The Prospect Joyous and Come, Let Us Join with One Accord.