Scripture Verse

A shadow in the day time from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain. Isaiah 4:6

Introduction

portrait
Horatius Bonar (1808–1889)

Words: Ho­ra­ti­us Bo­nar, Hymns of Faith and Hope (Lon­don: James Nis­bet, 1857), page 153.

Music: Buck­ley Si­las J. Vail, Cha­pel Me­lo­dies (New York: Big­low & Main, 1868), page 10 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tune:

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

Lyrics

Oppressed with noon-day’s scorch­ing heat,
To yon­der cross I flee;
Beneath its shel­ter take my seat;
No shade like this for me!

Beneath that cross clear wa­ters burst,
A fount­ain spark­ling free;
And there I quench my de­sert thirst;
No spring like this for me!

A stran­ger here, I pitch my tent
Beneath this spread­ing tree;
Here shall my pil­grim life be spent;
No home like this for me!

For bur­dened ones a rest­ing place,
Beside that cross I see;
Here I cast off my wea­ri­ness;
No rest like this for me!