As oft, with worn and weary feet

Representative Text

1 As oft with worn and weary feet,
We tread earth’s rugged valley o’er,
The thought how comforting and sweet,
Christ trod this very path before!
Our wants and weaknesses He knows,
From life’s first dawning to its close.

2 Does sickness, feebleness, or pain,
Or sorrow in our path appear?
The recollection will remain,
More deeply did He suffer here;
His life how truly sad and brief,
Filled up with suffering and with grief.

3 If Satan tempt our hearts to stray,
And whisper evil things within,
So did he in the desert way
Assail our Lord with thoughts of sin:
When worn, and in a feeble hour,
The tempter came with all his power.

4 Just such as I, this earth He trod,
With every human ill but sin;
And, though indeed the very God,
As I am now, so He has been;
My God, my Saviour, look on me
With pity, love, and sympathy.

Amen.

Source: Book of Worship with Hymns and Tunes #234

Author: James Edmeston

Edmeston, James, born Sept. 10, 1791. His maternal grandfather was the Rev. Samuel Brewer, who for 50 years was the pastor of an Independent congregation at Stepney. Educated as an architect and surveyor, in 1816 he entered upon his profession on his own account, and continued to practice it until his death on Jan. 7, 1867. The late Sir G. Gilbert Scott was his pupil. Although an Independent by descent he joined the Established Church at a comparatively early age, and subsequently held various offices, including that of churchwarden, in the Church of St. Barnabas, Homerton. His hymns number nearly 2000. The best known are “Lead us, Heavenly Father, lead us” and "Saviour, breathe an evening blessing." Many of his hymns were written for c… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: As oft, with worn and weary feet
Author: James Edmeston
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Notes

As oft with worn and weary feet. J. Edmeston. [Sympathy of Christ.] This is No. iv. of his Fifty Original Hymns, Northampton, 1833, pp. 7-8. The hymn is founded on Heb. iv. 15, and is in 4 stanzas of 6 lines. Original text, Lyra Britannica, 1867. Its use, which is somewhat extensive, is mainly confined to America. In the American Baptist Praise Book, N. Y., 1871, No. 984, it is attributed to "Wilberforce" in error. [William T. Brooke]

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Tune

PATER OMNIUM


NEUMARK

Published in 1657 (see above) WER NUR DEN LIEBEN GOTT is also known as NEUMARK. Johann S. Bach (PHH 7) used the tune in its isorhythmic shape (all equal rhythms) in his cantatas 21, 27, 84, 88, 93, 166, 179, and 197. Many Lutheran composers have also written organ preludes on this tune. WER NUR DEN…

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MAGDALEN (Stainer)


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The Cyber Hymnal #263
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The Cyber Hymnal #263

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