Voices United ‎#114

114. Forty Days and Forty Nights

1 Forty days and forty nights
you were fasting in the wild;
forty days and forty nights
tempted, and yet undefiled.

2 Sunbeams scorching all the day,
chilly dewdrops nightly shed;
prowling beasts about our way;
stones your pillow, earth your bed.

3 Shall not we your trial share,
and from earthly joys abstain,
fasting with unceasing prayer,
strong with you to suffer pain?

4 If temptations, vexing sore,
flesh or spirit should assail,
you their vanquisher before,
grant we may not faint nor fail.

5 Keep, oh keep us, Saviour dear,
ever constant by your side;
that with you we may appear
at the eternal Eastertide.

Text Information

• First Line: Forty days and forty nights
• Title: Forty Days and Forty Nights
• Author: George Hunt Smyttan (1856)
• Alterer: Francis Pott (1861, alt.)
• Meter: 7 7 7 7
• Language: English
• Publication Date: 1996
• Topic: The Christian Year: Lent; Christian Year: Ash Wednesday; Christian Year: Lent; Fasting; Jesus Christ: Temptaions; Petition; Struggle and Conflict; Suffering; Temptation; Trust; Lent 1: Year A; Lent 1: Year B; Lent 1: Year C

Tune Information

• Name: HEINLEIN
• Composer (attributed to): Martin Herbst (1676)
• Meter: 7 7 7 7
• Key: d minor