The Tolling Bell

I

Oft as the bell, with solemn toll,
Speaks the departure of a soul,
Let each one ask himself⁠—“Am I
Prepared, should I be call’d to die?”

II

Only this frail and fleeting breath
Preserves me from the jaws of death;
Soon as it fails at once I’m gone,
And plunged into a world unknown.

III

Then leaving all I loved below,
To God’s tribunal I must go⁠—
Must hear the Judge pronounce my fate,
And fix my everlasting state.

IV

4 But could I bear to hear him say,
“Depart, accursed, far away;
With Satan in the lowest hell,
Thou art for ever doom’d to dwell”?

V

5 Lord Jesus! help me now to flee,
And seek my hope alone in thee;
Apply thy blood, thy Spirit give,
Subdue my sin and let me live.

VI

6 Then when the solemn bell I hear,
If saved from guilt I need not fear;
Nor would the thought distressing be⁠—
Perhaps it next may toll for me.

VII

7 Rather my spirit would rejoice,
And long and wish to hear thy voice;
Glad when it bids me earth resign,
Secure of heaven if thou art mine.