“TO DIE IS GAIN.”

Draw nigh, thou long expected hour! O, come, and make me free! My God! I would not always thus A fetter’d pris’ner be! My spirit longs to soar away, But, ah! this mighty chain From which I struggle to escape, Binds me to earth again. Time after time thy sov’reign power Has some strong link removed, And I have nearer seem’d to Heaven, And more my Savior loved. But still in weakness fetter’d thus, How can I rise to thee? Draw nigh, thou long expected hour, And set the pris’ner free!