144. O Jesus, Thou art standing
William W. How, 1823-97
Based on Rev. 3:20: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he with me.” It was composed after the author had been reading the beautiful poem by Jean Ingelow, entitled “Brothers and a Sermon,” describing two brothers listening to an old parson in a fishing-village church. A part of the poem is as follows:
The parson knew that he had lost the eyes
And ears of those before him for he made
A pause ...
... then with a sigh
Fronted the folk, lifted his grand gray head,
And said, as one that pondered now the words
He had been preaching on with new surprise,
And found fresh marvel in their sound, “Behold!
Behold!” saith He, “I stand at the door and knock.”
Open the door with shame, if ye have sinned;
If ye be sorry, open it with sighs.
Albeit the place be bare for poverty,
And comfortless for lack of plenishing,
Be not abashed for that, but open it,
And take Him in that comes to sup with thee;
“Behold!” He saith, “I stand at the door and knock!”
Speak, then, O rich and strong:
Open, O happy young, ere yet the hand
Of Him that knocks, wearied at last, forbear;
The patient foot its thankless quest refrain.
The wounded heart forevermore withdraw.
Holman Hunt’s picture, “The Light of the World,” is an exquisite illustration of the spirit of this hymn.
William Walsham How was born at Shrewsbury, England, educated at Oxford, and ordained to the ministry in 1846. He served various churches as pastor and declined offers of positions of more distinction. He refused the bishopric of Durham, one of the most distinguished posts in the Anglican Church, with an income more than double what he then had. He was a man of broad sympathies and apostolical zeal, and was a master of the pastoral art. He collaborated with Thos. Baker Morrell in editing Psalms and Hymns, 1854, and in 1871 was joint editor of Church Hymns, published by the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, the latter becoming the greatest rival of Hymns Ancient and Modern which that book had had to date. His poems are marked by simplicity and beauty of diction and constitute some of the richest treasures of modern hymnody.
MUSIC. ST. HILDA, also known as “St. Edith,” is an arrangement by Rev. Edward Husband of a tune published by Justin H. Knecht in Vollständige Sammlung, Stuttgart, 1799.
For comments on Knecht see [Hymn 511].
Edward Husband, 1843-1908, was an English clergyman with a great deal of musical talent and interest and was a well-known lecturer on the subject of church music.