Concerning death, which steals the breath, and blasts the comely face.
Come listen all unto my call, which I do make today;
For you must die as well as I, and pass from hence away.
A Caesar may be great today, yet death will close his eyes:
Though some do strive and do arrive to riches and renown,
Enjoying health and swim in wealth, yet death will bring them down.
A dying fall will spoil it all, for Absalom is dead:
Though you acquire the best attire, appearing fine and fair,
Yet death will come into the room, and strip you naked there.
The rich, the brave, the lowest slave, the wicked and the just:[i]
Therefore prepare to meet thy God, before it be too late.
Or else you’ll weep, lament and cry, lost in a ruined state.[ii]
The above hymn, less the last two lines, appeared as a 7-stanza 4-line common meter hymn “Address to All” in Hymns, Original and Selected, for the Use of Christians, by Elias Smith and Abner Jones (Manning & Loring, Boston, 1805). The first of the above two stanzas appear with The Christian Harmony song Solemn Call (page 155) and all four are in An Address to All (page 101). Both those tunes were written by the Baptist songster and tunebook compiler William Walker. While the earliest source of the hymn is known, the author of the words is unknown. The “Address” is a very pointed and effective warning “to all the human race” – and especially to those who rely on their power, position, riches, or refinement without considering the end of life. Caesars and Absaloms die just as surely as beggars and slaves.
“the beggar died…the rich man also died, and was buried; and in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments…” Luke 16:22-23
[ii] The last lines are added, perhaps by William Walker or some other songwriter to round out the uneven number of stanzas. These added lines do not contain the internal rhyme present in the first and third lines of the rest of the hymn. This might be changed to: “Prepare therefore to meet thy Lord, before it be too late. Lest soon you die, lament and cry, lost in a ruined state.”
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