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.
PENITENCE AND CONFESSION
145. Savior, when in dust to Thee
Robert Grant, 1779-1838
A hymn of penitence which has had a wide use. It was published in the Christian Observer, 1815, as a Lenten “Litany.” The last line of each stanza (five in the original) read, “Hear our solemn litany,” here changed to “Hear thy people when they cry.” Stanzas 2 and 4 have been much altered by an unknown hand. Grant’s original hymn of five stanzas reads as follows: