There is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.
John 5:2–4
Words: Mary A. McKee, in Fairer Than Day (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: George C. Hugg, 1903), number 56.
Music: Adam Geibel (🔊 pdf nwc).
If you know where to get a good photo of McKee (head & shoulders, at least 200×300 pixels),
I come, O Lord, when troubled waves are stirring
The healing fount that cures the touch of sin;
I come in hope, no faintness then deterring,
But there are none, O Lord, to help me in.
Refrain
Help me in, help me in!
I am tired now of sin;
Help me in, help me in!
I may life eternal in!
I come, O Lord, when mercy is extended,
And angel wings are brooding softly o’er;
The ways of sin, that I had once defended,
I leave them all, and I can do no more.
Refrain
I come, O Lord, though others may be hasting
With stronger steps to seek the way of life;
I come in faith, no precious moment wasting,
While earth and Heaven with love and peace are rife.
Refrain