Scripture Verse

[His]…shoes I am not worthy to unloose. Luke 3:16

Introduction

portrait
Narayan V. Tilak
(1861–1919)

Words: Na­ray­an V. Ti­lak (1861–1919). Trans­lat­ed from Ma­ra­thi to Eng­lish by Nic­ol Mac­ni­col (1870–1952).

Music: Wig­town Scot­tish Psal­ter, 1635 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Mac­ni­col (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els), or a bet­ter one of Ti­lak,

Lyrics

One who is all un­fit to count
As schol­ar in Thy school,
Thou of Thy love hast named a friend
O kind­ness won­der­ful!

So weak I am, O gra­cious Lord,
So all un­wor­thy Thee,
That ev­en the dust upon Thy feet
Outweighs me ut­ter­ly.

Thou dwell­est in un­sha­dowed light,
All sin and shame above
That Thou shouldst bear our sin and shame,
How can I tell such love?

Ah, did not He the hea­ven­ly throne
A lit­tle thing es­teem,
And not un­wor­thy for my sake
A mor­tal body deem?

When in His flesh they drove the nails,
Did He not all en­dure?
What name is there to fit a life
So pa­tient and so pure?

So, love it­self in hu­man form,
For love of me He came;
I can­not look up­on His face
For shame, for bit­ter shame.

If there is aught of worth in me
It comes from Thee alone;
Then keep me safe, for so, O Lord,
Thou keep­est but Thine own.