Scripture Verse

Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is: that I may know how frail I am. Psalm 39:4

Introduction

Words: From The Psal­ter (Pitts­burgh, Penn­syl­van­ia: Unit­ed Pres­by­ter­ian Board of Pub­li­ca­tion, 1912), num­ber 107.

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),

Lyrics

My end, Lord, make me know,
My days, how soon they fail;
And to my thought­ful spir­it show
How weak I am and frail.

To Thy eter­nal thought
My days are but a span;
To Thee my years ap­pear as naught,
A breath at best is man.

O Lord, re­gard my fears,
And an­swer my re­quest;
Turn not in si­lence from my tears,
But give the mourn­er rest.

I am a stran­ger here,
Dependent on Thy grace,
A pil­grim, as my fa­thers were,
With no abid­ing place.