Scripture Verse

To live is Christ, and to die is gain. Philippians 1:21

Introduction

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H. A. César Malan (1787–1864)

Words: H. A. Cé­sar Ma­lan, Chants de Si­on, 1832 (Non, ce n’est pas mour­ir que d’al­ler vers son Dieu). Trans­lat­ed from French to Eng­lish by George W. Be­thune, Lays, 1847, page 141. At Be­thune’s re­quest, this hymn was sung at his fun­er­al.

Music: Green­wood (Sweet­ser) Jo­seph E. Sweet­ser, A Col­lect­ion of Church Mu­sic (New York: John Wi­ley, 1849), num­ber 161 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pic­ture of Sweet­ser (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

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George W. Bethune (1805–1862)

Lyrics

It is not death to die,
To leave this wea­ry road,
And midst the bro­ther­hood on high
To be at home with God.

It is not death to close
The eye long dimmed by tears,
And wake, in glo­ri­ous re­pose,
To spend eter­nal years.

It is not death to bear
The wrench that sets us free
From dung­eon chain, to breath the air
Of bound­less li­ber­ty.

It is not death to fling
Aside this sin­ful dust
And rise, on strong ex­ult­ing wing
To live among the just.

Jesus, Thou Prince of Life,
Thy chos­en can­not die:
Like Thee, they con­quer in the strife
To reign with Thee on high.