Broad Is the Road that Leads to Death

DESCRIPTION: "Broad is the road that leads to death, And thousands walk together there; But wisdom shows a narrow path, With here and there a traveler." "Deny thyself and take thy cross, Is the Redeemer's great command." The singer won't follow the fearful soul
AUTHOR: Words: Isaac Watts (1674-1748) / usual tune "Windham" by Daniel Read (1757-1837) (source: hymnary.org)
EARLIEST DATE: before 1775 (hymnary.org)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad death | road
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REFERENCES (1 citation):
MidwestFolklore, Mary O. Eddy, "Twenty Folk Hymns," Volume 3, Number 1 (Spring 1953), p. 38, "Somerset L.M.D." (1 excerpt, 1 tune)
Roud #15045
NOTES [85 words]: A clear allusion to Matthew 7:13, which in the King James Version reads "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat."
For more on Isaac Watts, see the notes to "O God, Our Help in Ages Past." According to hymnary,org, his original title was "The Almost Christian," but this title seems almost forgotten.
Although Eddy printed this with the tune "Somerset," it is almost always sung to the tune "Windham." - RBW
Last updated in version 6.8
File: MWF3038B

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