Scripture Verse

What is man, that Thou shouldest magnify him? and that Thou shouldest set Thine heart upon him? Job 7:17

Introduction

portrait
Philipp Nicolai (1556–1608)

Words: Ar­thur T. Rus­sell, Psalms and Hymns (Cam­bridge, Eng­land: John Deigh­ton, 1851), num­ber 94.

Music: Wie schön leuch­tet Phi­lipp Ni­co­lai, 1599 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Rus­sell (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

O Lord most ho­ly! can it be
That Thou shouldst suf­fer thus for me,
Bereft of con­so­la­tion?
Lord, what is man, that from above,
Thou shouldst des­cend, in won­drous love,
To die for our sal­va­tion?
Blessèd Je­su! I adore Thee,
And be­fore Thee make con­fess­ion,
Thou wast slain by my trans­gress­ion.

Thee crowned with thorns my faith adores:
Thee on the cross my soul im­plores—
In death Thy foes sub­du­ing!
There pa­ra­dise is still Thy own;
Thy pow­er up­on the cross is shown,
There all our hope re­new­ing!
Now Thy sor­rows, Lord, shall grieve me,
Yet re­lieve me, life and heal­ing
To my wound­ed spir­it seal­ing.

Ah, how shall I such love re­quite,
To Thou, my Lord, my life, my light,
No pains for me dis­dain­ing?
I yield myself, my all to Thee;
Henceforth, O Je­su, dwell in me,
O’er all with­in me reign­ing.
Holy Je­su! King of glo­ry!
I im­plore Thee, com­fort send me;
Jesus! un­to death at­tend me.