Thou, Who Didst Stoop Below

For Christmas

Alternate Title: Looking to Jesus.

Words: Sarah Elizabeth (nee Appleton) Miles, 1827

Music: Not Stated

Source: Book of Poetry. Prepared for the Presbyterian Board of Publications. (Philadelphia: Paul T. Jones, Publishing Agent, 1844), No. 139, p. 35-36.

1.  Thou, who didst stoop below,
     To drain the cup of wo,
Wearing the form of frail mortality,—
     Thy blessed labours done,
     Thy crown of victory won,
Hast passed from earth—passed to thy home on high.

2.  Man may no longer trace,
     In thy celestial face,
The image of the bright, the viewless One;
     Nor may thy servants hear,
     Save with faith's raptured ear,
Thy voice of tenderness, God's holy Son!

3.  Our eyes behold thee not,
     Yet hast thou not forgot
Those who have placed their hope, their trust in thee;
     Before thy Father's face
     Thou hast prepared a place,
That where thou art, there they may also be.

4.  It was no path of flowers,
     Through this dark world of ours,
Beloved of the Father, thou didst tread;
     And shall we, in dismay,
     Shrink from the narrow way,
When clouds and darkness are around it spread ?

5.  O thou, who art our life,
     Be with us through the strife;
Was not thy head by earth's fierce tempests bowed ?
     Raise thou our eyes above,
     To see a Father's love
Beam, like the bow of promise, through the cloud.

6.  Even through the awful gloom,
     Which hovers o'er the tomb,
That light of love our guiding star shall be;
     Our spirits shall not dread
     The shadowy way to tread,
Friend, Guardian, Saviour, which doth lead to thee.

Note:

Found in four verses of six lines in The Book of Christmas Hymns (London: T. Nelson and Sons, 1868), pp. 97-98, with verses 1, 4, 5, 6 above. Erroneously gives attribution to Sibella E. Miles.

Also found in Hymn and Tune Book for the Church and the Home (Boston: American Unitarian Association, 1871), No. 363, p. 165, with three verses, 1, 4, and 5 above.

Also found in Gleanings From The Sacred Poets (Edinburgh: Gall & Inglis, 1875), p. 363, which notes:

Sarah [Elizabeth] Miles is an American authoress. Her maiden name was Sarah Appleton. Her husband was a schoolmaster in Boston. Her hymns were published about the year 1840.

Sheet Music "Miles" from Hymn and Tune Book for the Church and the Home (Boston: American Unitarian Association, 1868), No. 363, p. 165.

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