425. Jesus, tender Shepherd, hear me
Mary L. Duncan, 1814-40
A beautiful evening prayer, written by the author for her own children.
Mrs. Mary Duncan was the daughter of Rev. Robert Lundie, minister at Kelso, England. In 1836, she married the Rev. William Wallace Duncan, minister of the Scottish parish of Cleish. Between July and December of 1839, the year before her death, she wrote a number of hymns for her small children. These were published in a Memoir by her mother and later issued separately—twenty-three in all—as Rhymes for My Children, 1842. Mrs. Duncan, whose life ended so prematurely, was a woman of fine intellect and lovable character, the memory of whom has been described as one of the “aids to the devout life” of Scotland in the last generation. Her sister married Dr. Horatius Bonar ([Hymn 129]), minister and hymn writer.
MUSIC. EVENING PRAYER. For comments on the composer, John Stainer, see [Hymn 111]. The tune was composed for this hymn in the first edition of The Church Hymnary, London.