Desiring to Depart and Be With Christ

While on the verge of life I stand

Author: Philip Doddridge
Tune: PILESGROVE
Published in 85 hymnals

Printable scores: PDF, MusicXML
Audio files: MIDI

Representative Text

1 While on the verge of life I stand,
And view the scene on either hand,
My spirit struggles with my clay,
And longs to wing its flight away.

2 Where Jesus dwells my soul would be,
And faints my much-loved Lord to see:
Earth, twine no more about my heart!
For 'tis far better to depart

3 Come, ye angelic convoys! come,
And lead the willing pilgrim home;
Ye know the way to Jesus' throne,--
Source of my joys, and of your own.

4 The blissful interview, how sweet!
To fall transported at His feet!
Raised in His arms to see His face
Through the full beamings of His grace!

5 As with a seraph's voice to sing!
To fly as on a cherub's wings!
Performing, with unwearied hands,
The present Saviour's high commands.

6 Yet, with these prospects full in sight,
We'll wait Thy signal for the flight;
For, while Thy service we pursue,
We find a heaven in all we do.

Source: The Book of Worship #372

Author: Philip Doddridge

Philip Doddridge (b. London, England, 1702; d. Lisbon, Portugal, 1751) belonged to the Non-conformist Church (not associated with the Church of England). Its members were frequently the focus of discrimination. Offered an education by a rich patron to prepare him for ordination in the Church of England, Doddridge chose instead to remain in the Non-conformist Church. For twenty years he pastored a poor parish in Northampton, where he opened an academy for training Non-conformist ministers and taught most of the subjects himself. Doddridge suffered from tuberculosis, and when Lady Huntington, one of his patrons, offered to finance a trip to Lisbon for his health, he is reputed to have said, "I can as well go to heaven from Lisbon as from Nort… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: While on the verge of life I stand
Title: Desiring to Depart and Be With Christ
Author: Philip Doddridge
Meter: 8.8.8.8
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Tune

PILESGROVE


LEYDEN (Costellow)

According to the Hymn Tune Index, LEYDEN was first published as HYMN 3 in Thomas Costellow's Sunday’s Amusement, a selection of sacred music, as sung at Bedford Chapel (London: E. Riley, ca. 1801).

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Timeline

Media

The Cyber Hymnal #7636
  • Adobe Acrobat image (PDF)
  • Noteworthy Composer score (NWC)
  • XML score (XML)

Instances

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The Cyber Hymnal #7636

The Harmonia Sacra #57A

Include 83 pre-1979 instances
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