Birds have their quiet nest, foxes their holes

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Birds have their quiet nest, foxes their holes

Author: John S. B. Monsell
Published in 18 hymnals

Representative Text

Birds have their quiet nest,
Foxes their holes, and man his peaceful bed;
All creatures have their rest,
But Jesus had not where to lay his head.

And yet he came to give
The weary and the heavy-laden rest;
To bid the sinner live,
And soothe our griefs to slumber on his breast.

Let the birds seek their nest,
Foxes their holes, and man his peaceful bed;
Come, Saviour, in my breast
Come and repose thine oft rejected head!

Come! give me rest, and take
The only rest on earth thou lov’st, within
A heart that for thy sake
Shall purify itself from every sin.

Source: A Book of Hymns for Public and Private Devotion (15th ed.) #126

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Author: John S. B. Monsell

John Samuel Bewley Monsell (b. St. Colomb's, Londonderry, Ireland, 1811; d. Guilford, Surrey, England, 1875) was educated at Trinity College in Dublin and served as a chaplain and rector of several churches in Ireland after his ordination in 1835. Transferred to England in 1853, he became rector of Egham in Surrey and was rector of St. Nicholas Church in Guilford from 1870 until his death (caused by a construction accident at his church). A prolific poet, Monsell published his verse in eleven volumes. His three hundred hymns, many celebrating the seasons of the church year, were issued in collections such as Hymns and Miscellaneous Poems (1837), Spiritual Songs (1857), Hymns of Love and Praise (1863), and The Parish Hymnal (1873). Bert P… Go to person page >

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