And Am I Born to Die
And am I born to die
The theological movement of this text is classic Law-Gospel: the Law exposes the reality of death and judgment with brutal honesty ('and am I born to die,' 'eternal happiness or woe must then my portion be'), and the text holds that exposure without immediately resolving it into easy comfort. This is the kind of theological honesty that Luther commended in his theology of the cross — looking directly at death, not away from it. The final stanza's 'how shall I leave the tomb and meet my God above?' is a question the text does not answer within itself; it leaves the answer to the Gospel proclaimed elsewhere in the service. This makes it a text that requires its context — it should not stand alone but should be followed by proclamation.
History & Background
Charles Wesley (1707-1788) wrote this text as part of his massive hymnodic output, and it appeared in his 'Short Hymns on Select Passages of Holy Scripture' (1762). The text meditates on death, judgment, and eternity with a directness that was characteristic of 18th-century Methodist revivalism but that also connects to the medieval memento mori tradition and Luther's own confrontation with death. The tune IDUMEA — whose name references the ancient land of Edom, associated in Scripture with desolation — was composed or arranged by Ananias Davisson and appeared in 'Kentucky Harmony' (1816), one of the foundational American shape note collections. The pairing of Wesley's existential text with IDUMEA's brooding, modal tune became one of the most powerful combinations in the Sacred Harp and shape note traditions. The tune's descending minor passages and the text's unflinching questions about death and judgment create a musical-theological experience unlike anything in mainstream Protestant hymnody. It appears in The Sacred Harp (1844) and numerous subsequent shape note books, and has been recovered for contemporary use in Voices Together and other recent hymnals.
Hymnal Appearances
- Voices Together — 800
Bulletin Note
Text by Charles Wesley (1707-1788), 1762. Tune: IDUMEA, Ananias Davisson, Kentucky Harmony (1816). A Sacred Harp classic.
Preaching Connection
Wesley refuses to look away from death's questions — 'eternal happiness or woe must then my portion be' — because honest confrontation with mortality is the beginning of genuine faith, not its enemy.
Themes
death judgment eternity Lent mortality All Saints resurrection Law