Death warrant

“Death, with his warrant in his hand” is not one of the more common hymns in our church repertoire. It nevertheless tells the true tale that it is appointed unto men once to die. For the Christian, the enemy death can be welcomed as a friend, since Jesus Christ by his death furnishes it to usher us into his presence. The words were possibly written by William Billings, to  pair with his tune Lebanon (or Funeral Hymn), first published in 1770 in The New-England Psalm-Singer (page 95). The tune is A minor, with the words in common meter. (Billings includes the musical direction divoto — devout, with religious emotion.)

1. Death, with his warrant in his hand,
Comes rushing on amain
We must obey the summons then
Return to dust again.

2. Hail, king of terrors, welcome death
Thou’rt pleasing to mine eye;
In spite of thee I shall arise
Above the ethereal sky.