Life is the time to serve the Lord,

The time t’ insure the great reward;

And while the lamp holds out to burn,

O hasten, sinner, to return!

2 Life is the hour that God has given

To ’scape from hell and fly to heaven,

The day of grace, when mortals may

Secure the blessings of the day.

3 The living know that they must die,

Beneath the clods their dust must lie;

Then have no share in all that’s done

Beneath the circle of the sun.

4 Then what my thoughts design to do,

My hands, with all your might pursue:

Since no device nor work is found,

Nor faith, nor hope, beneath the ground.

5 There are no acts of pardon passed

In the cold grave to which we haste;

O may we all receive thy grace,

And see with joy thy smiling face.