Moses Dying in the Embrace of God

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Death cannot make our souls afraid

Author: Isaac Watts
Tune: HEREFORD (OUSELEY)
Published in 100 hymnals

Printable scores: PDF, Noteworthy Composer
Audio files: MIDI

Representative Text

Death cannot make our souls afraid,
If God be with us there;
We may walk through its darkest shade,
And never yield to fear.

I could renounce my all below,
If my Creator bid;
And run, if I were called to go,
And die as Moses did.

Might I but climb to Pisgah's top,
And view the promised land,
My flesh itself should long to drop,
And pray for the command.

Clasped in my heav'nly Father's arms,
I would forget my breath,
And lose my life among the charms
Of so divine a death.

Source: Psalms and Hymns of Isaac Watts, The #II.49

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Author: Isaac Watts

Isaac Watts was the son of a schoolmaster, and was born in Southampton, July 17, 1674. He is said to have shown remarkable precocity in childhood, beginning the study of Latin, in his fourth year, and writing respectable verses at the age of seven. At the age of sixteen, he went to London to study in the Academy of the Rev. Thomas Rowe, an Independent minister. In 1698, he became assistant minister of the Independent Church, Berry St., London. In 1702, he became pastor. In 1712, he accepted an invitation to visit Sir Thomas Abney, at his residence of Abney Park, and at Sir Thomas' pressing request, made it his home for the remainder of his life. It was a residence most favourable for his health, and for the prosecution of his literary… Go to person page >

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Text Information

Text Information

First Line:	Death cannot make our souls afraid
Title:	Moses Dying in the Embrace of God
Author:	Isaac Watts
Meter:	8.6.8.6
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

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Notes

Death cannot make our souls afraid. I. Watts. [Death of Moses.] Appeared in the first edition of his Hymns and Sacred Songs, 1707, in 4 stanzas of 4 lines. Although included in the older collections of Toplady and others, it has almost died out of use in Great Britain. In America it is found in a few modern hymnals, and sometimes as "Death cannot make my soul afraid," a reading which appeared in Toplady, 1776, No. 82.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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