LYRICS
| Meter: | 8 6 8 6 D (D.C.M.)
| | Writer(s): | John Mason
| | Transl/Adapt: |
| | Dates: |
| | Bible Refs: |
| A New Version of the Psalms of David
| 1821
| 44
|
| 1. lord of my life, length of my days!
Thy hand hath rescued me;
Who lying at the gates of death
Among the dead was free.
My dearest friends I had resigned
Unto their Maker’s care:
Methoughts I only time had left
For a concluding prayer.
2. Methought death laid his hands on me,
And did his prisoner bind;
And by the sound methought I heard
His master’s feet behind.
Methought I stood upon the shore,
And nothing could I see
But the vast ocean, with my eyes,—
A vast eternity!
3. Methought I heard the midnight cry,
‘Behold the bridegroom comes!’
Methought it called me to the bar,
Where souls receive their dooms.
The world was at an end with me,
As if it all did burn:
But lo! there came a voice from heaven,
Which ordered my return.
4. Lord! I returned at thy command;
What wilt thou have me do?
O let me wholly live to thee,
To whom my life I owe!
Fain would I dedicate to thee
The remnant of my days:
Lord! with my life renew my heart,
That both thy name may praise.
|