No. 128 Plenary, Soh 262
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
Hark, from the tombs a doleful sound,
Mine ears, attend the cry;
“Ye living men, come view the ground,
Where you must shortly lie,
Where you must shortly lie,
Where you must shortly lie;
Ye living men come view the ground
Where you must shortly lie.
“Princes, this clay must be your bed,
In spite of all your towers;
The tall, the wise, the reverend head
Must lie as low as ours.”
Grant us the power of quickening grace,
To fit our souls to fly;
Then, when we drop this dying flesh,
We’ll rise above the sky.
The tune is the same as the popular ‘Old Grimes is Dead’ and ‘Auld Lang Syne’. It occurs also OSH 162 and CHH 94. The Methodist Hymnal (1935) attributes it to William Shield. In the Southern Harmony its author is given as A. Clark.