Moses Dying in the Embrace of God

Author: Isaac Watts

Isaac Watts was the son of a schoolmaster, and was born in Southampton, July 17, 1674. He is said to have shown remarkable precocity in childhood, beginning the study of Latin, in his fourth year, and writing respectable verses at the age of seven. At the age of sixteen, he went to London to study in the Academy of the Rev. Thomas Rowe, an Independent minister. In 1698, he became assistant minister of the Independent Church, Berry St., London. In 1702, he became pastor. In 1712, he accepted an invitation to visit Sir Thomas Abney, at his residence of Abney Park, and at Sir Thomas' pressing request, made it his home for the remainder of his life. It was a residence most favourable for his health, and for the prosecution of his literary… Go to person page >

Death cannot make our souls afraid. I. Watts. [Death of Moses.] Appeared in the first edition of his Hymns and Sacred Songs, 1707, in 4 stanzas of 4 lines. Although included in the older collections of Toplady and others, it has almost died out of use in Great Britain. In America it is found in a few modern hymnals, and sometimes as "Death cannot make my soul afraid," a reading which appeared in Toplady, 1776, No. 82.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)