Hymn VIII [Book I]

Against Carnal Mirth

Original Text

Henry Alline, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs (Boston: Peter Edes, 1786): 7. Early American Imprints, Series 1, no. 44842. Online.

1How vain the wretch that dares employ

2His mind in quest of sensual joy,

3And for an hour of carnal mirth

4Chain down his soul to endless death!

II.

5Why will you waste your days in vain,

6Expos'd to everlasting pain?

7Your hours are short, your moments fly,

8O think, vain man, you're born to die.

III.

9When death arrests, how will you bear

10To close your eyes in black despair?

11How will you bear eternal pain

12Where horrors, woes, and darkness reign?

IV.

13Ah! could you now one moment know

14The horrors of that gulph below,

15You would not hug your sensual joys,

16Nor sell your souls for empty toys.

Publication Start Year

1786

RPO poem Editors

Ian Lancashire / Sharine Leung

RPO Edition

2011

Rhyme

Form