Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Matthew 7:14
Words: Jennie L. Lyall. The lyrics below come from the same source as the music, but there is apparently an earlier version of the text in The Truth Seeker Collection of Forms, Hymns and Recitations, by D. M. Bennett (New York: Liberal and Scientific Publications, 1877). Its opening line was There are chains of social union.
Music: Frank J. Robertson, in Augsburg Songs No. 2 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Lutheran Publication Society, 1893), number 97 (🔊 pdf nwc).
If you know where to get a good photo of Lyall or Robertson (head & shoulders, at least 200×300 pixels),
There are but two ways in life, my friend,
The wrong and the right, the false and the true;
They’re counter to each from end to end,
Save eternity limits the two.
Refrain
There are but two ways, but two ways in life,
There are but two ways, but two ways in life;
The one leads to glory, and the other leads to death:
Oh, which of the two will you take?
There are but two roads in life, my friend,
The straight and narrow, the broad and the plain;
Think well which one you will take, my friend,
You will ne’er travel this way again.
Refrain
The one is beset with foes, my friend,
’Tis full of allurements, but danger is there;
The other leads steadily on, my friend,
To a Heav’n that is bright and fair.
Refrain