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* Index of the First Line of Each Stanza, the Fifth Line of Eight Line Stanzas, and the First Line of the Chorus

Death! 'tis a melancholy Day

Death dreadful, or delightful.

Poet: Isaac Watts, 1709
Meter: Common Meter (8,6,8,6)
Location in The Sacred Harp
Stanza Denson Cooper
1
Death! 'tis a melancholy Day
To those that have no GOD,
When the poor Soul is forc'd away
To seek her last Abode.
Tribulation 29b, Stanza 1
2
In vain to Heav'n she lifts her Eyes;
But Guilt, a heavy Chain,
Still drags her downward from the Skies,
To Darkness, Fire, and Pain.
Tribulation 29b, Stanza 2
3
Awake and mourn, ye Heirs of Hell;
Let stubborn Sinners fear:
You must be driven from Earth, and dwell
A long FOR EVER there.

4
See how the Pit gapes wide for you,
And flashes in your Face;
And thou, my Soul, look downward too,
And sing recov'ring Grace.

5
He is a GOD of sov'reign Love,
That promis'd Heav'n to me;
And taught my Thoughts to soar above,
Where happy Spirits be.

6
Prepare me, LORD, for thy right Hand;
Then come the joyful Day;
Come Death, and some celestial Band
To bear my Soul away.

Watts, Isaac. Hymns and Spiritual Songs: In Three Books. 1773 ed. London: S. Strahan et. al., 1773.