Scripture Verse

We who have believed do enter into rest. Hebrews 4:3

Introduction

Words: Ed­mund S. Pal­mer, 1902. Pal­mer was on the staff of the Un­i­ver­si­ties Miss­ion in Zan­zi­bar, 1893–1901, and wrote the hymn while there. It was in­clud­ed as (Ye­su, Bin Mar­i­a­mu) in the Mis­sion’s Swa­hi­li Hymn Book. Pal­mer trans­lat­ed the words from Swa­hi­li to Eng­lish in 1902, when they were first print­ed pri­vate­ly.

Music: Ado­ro De­vo­te Ben­e­dic­tine plain­song, Mode V, 13th Cen­tu­ry (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tune:

  • Corpus Do­mi­ni G. E. W. Ma­let, in The Eng­lish Hym­nal (Lon­don: Ox­ford Un­i­ver­si­ty Press, 1906), num­ber 356 (🔊 pdf nwc)

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Pal­mer (head-and-shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

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