Heal Us, Emmanuel, Hear Our Prayer

Author: William Cowper

William Cowper (pronounced "Cooper"; b. Berkampstead, Hertfordshire, England, 1731; d. East Dereham, Norfolk, England, 1800) is regarded as one of the best early Romantic poets. To biographers he is also known as "mad Cowper." His literary talents produced some of the finest English hymn texts, but his chronic depression accounts for the somber tone of many of those texts. Educated to become an attorney, Cowper was called to the bar in 1754 but never practiced law. In 1763 he had the opportunity to become a clerk for the House of Lords, but the dread of the required public examination triggered his tendency to depression, and he attempted suicide. His subsequent hospitalization and friendship with Morley and Mary Unwin provided emotional st… Go to person page >

Heal us, Emmanuel, here we are. W. Cowper. [Lent.] First published in the Olney Hymns, 1779, Book i., No. 14, in 6 stanzas of 4 lines, and headed, "Jehovah Rophi, — I am the Lord that healeth thee." It is often found in the older collections in its original form, and it still retains its place in a few modern hymnals. Taken in its original, and the following altered forms of the text, its use is somewhat extensive:— 1. Heal us, Emmanuel! hear our prayer. This was given in the Salisbury Hymn Book, 1857, and was repeated in the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge Church Hymns, 1871, and others. 2. Heal us, Emmanuel, here we stand. In the American Tract Society's Songs of Zion, 1864, &c. 3. Heal us, Immanuel, we are here. In the New Congregational Hymn Book 1859, and others. 4. Divine Physician of the Soul. In Kennedy, 1863. 5. Healer Divine, 0 hear our prayer. In a few American hymnals, including the Episcopal Hymns for Church & Home. Philadelphia, 1860. The references in this hymn to the father of the deaf and dumb child (St. Mark ix. 24), and to the woman healed of the issue of blood (St. Mark v. 34), render it most appropriate for use when those portions of Holy Scriptures are read in public worship, e.g. March 2, and 9. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)