Hymn
The End of Life
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
The inexorable throne!
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.
The End of Life — Text from Book of Worship (Rev. ed.), 1870. Public domain. https://yeshuanow.com/hymns/the-end-of-life
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Questions about this hymn
Who wrote The End of Life?
The words of The End of Life were written by Charles Wesley; the version here was published in 1870. The library holds 105 more hymns by Charles Wesley, including Safety in Union and Come away to the skies, my beloved arise.
Is The End of Life public domain?
Yes. The words here are taken from Book of Worship (Rev. ed.), published in 1870. 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 End of Life?
The End of Life is in 8.8.6.8.8.6. Hymns in the same metre can usually be sung to the same tunes — for example, O could I speak the matchless worth, O Love Divine, How Sweet Thou Art and The Pilgrim's Happy Lot.