Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!
Numbers 23:10
Words: Anonymous, in Church Psalmody, edited by Lowell Mason & David Greene (Boston, Massachusetts: Perkins & Marvin, 1831), number 616.
Music: Wealden, anonymous, in The Sabbath Hymn and Tune Book, edited by Lowell Mason, Edwards A. Park & Austin Phelps (New York: Mason Brothers, 1859), page 177 (🔊 pdf nwc).
Alternate Tune:
The opening line of this hymn is the first line of J. Montgomery’s Ode to the Volunteers of Britain, on the Prospect of Invasion, published in his Wanderer of Switzerland and Other Poems, 1819; and the third line of stanza i. is partly from the last stanza but one of the same Ode.
From these extracts, and the whole tone and swing of the hymn, it is clear that it was suggested by the Ode…It is sometimes ascribed to J. Montgomery, and at other times to S. F. Smith, but in each case in error. Its authorship is unknown. [Frederic Mayer Bird]
Julian, p. 830
Oh for the death of those
Who slumber in the Lord!
Oh be like theirs my last repose,
Like theirs my last reward.
Their bodies, in the ground,
In silent hope may lie,
Till the last trumpet’s joyful sound
Shall call them to the sky
Their ransomed spirits soar,
On wings of faith and love,
To meet the Savior they adore,
And reign with Him above.
With us their names shall live
Through long succeeding years,
Embalmed with all our hearts can give,
Our praises and our tears.
Oh for the death of those
Who slumber in the Lord!
Oh be like theirs my last repose,
Like theirs my last reward.