Am I Born to Die?

Am I Born to Die?
Charles Wesley, Ananias Davisson

1. And am I born to die?
To lay this body down?
And must my trembling spirit fly
Into a world unknown,
2. A land of deepest shade,
Unpierced by human thought,
The dreary regions of the dead,
Where all things are forgot?
3. Soon as from earth I go,
What will become of me?
Eternal happiness or woe
Must then my portion be:
4. Waked by the trumpet's sound,
I from my grave shall rise,
And see the Judge, with glory crowned,
And see the flaming skies!
5. How shall I leave my tomb?
With triumph or regret?
A fearful or a joyful doom,
A curse or blessing meet?
6. Will angel bands convey
Their brother to the bar?
Or devils drag my soul away,
To meet its sentence there?
7. Who can resolve the doubt
That tears my anxious breast?
Shall I be with the damned cast out,
Or numbered with the blest?
8. I must from God be driven,
Or with my Savior dwell;
Must come at his command to heaven,
Or else—depart to hell!

Text: Charles Wesley, 1763

Charles Wesley (1707-1788), englischer Hymnen-Schreiber, gründete bereits in seiner Studentenzeit die methodistischen Bewegung (Methodismus), zusammen mit seinem Bruder John Wesley. Er schrieb mehrere Hundert

Hymnen und Gedichte.
"Hymn XLI," l. 1-4, A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People Called Methodists, London, J. Paramore (1780).
Melodie: Ananias Davisson, 1816
1816 gaben Ananias Davisson (1780-1857) und Joseph Funk (1777-1862), beide aus Rockingham County, Va., ihre ersten Gesangsbücher heraus. Ananias Davissons erstes Gesangsbuch Kentucky Harmony war für Schule und Prediger bestimmt. Die Texte stammten von Isaac Watts, Charles Wesley und anderen englischen Dichtern.

Shape-Note Singing Schools.
Die Hymne "Am I Born to Die?" war in Nordamerika sehr populär:

American Slavery: A Composite Autobiography Sample Narratives "I 'member how de old slaves use to be workin' in de field singing 'Am I born to die, And Lay Dis Body Down'. And dey sing, Dark was de night and cold de ground, on which my Lord was laid, Great drops of blood like sweat run down, in agony He prayed.".

Rudolph Fisher. The Conjure Man Dies