Saturday, August 2, 2014

With the centenary of WWI in mind . . .



Jesus, Son of Mary, fount of life alone,
Here we hail thee present on thine altar throne.
Humbly we adore thee, Lord of endless might,
In the mystic symbols, veiled from earthly sight.

Think, O Lord, in mercy on the souls of those 
Who, in faith gone from us, now in death repose. 
Here ‘mid stress and conflict toils can never cease; 
There, the warfare ended, bid them rest in peace. 

Often they were wounded in the deadly strife,
Heal them, good Physician, with the balm of life.
Every taint of evil, frailty and decay,
Good and gracious Saviour, cleanse and purge away.

Rest eternal grant them, after weary fight:
Shed on them the radiance of thy heavenly light.
Lead them onward, upward, to the holy place,
Where thy Saints made perfect gaze upon thy face.


Edmund S. Palmer wrote this hymn to be sung at a requiem for a member of the UMCA before 1901, and it was included in the Mission’s Swahili Hymn Book. Palmer translated the words from Swahili to English in 1902, when they were first printed privately. They were included in the English Hymnal in 1906.

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