Who Is This So Weak and Helpless?
William W. How (1867)
Who is this, so weak and helpless,
Child of lowly Hebrew maid,
Rudely in a stable sheltered,
Coldly in a manger laid?
’Tis the Lord of all creation,
Who this wondrous path hath trod;
He is God from everlasting,
And to everlasting God.
Who is this, a Man of Sorrows,
Walking sadly life’s hard way,
Homeless, weary, sighing, weeping,
Over sin and Satan’s sway?
’Tis our God, our glorious Savior,
Who above the starry sky
Is for us a place prepareth,
Where no tear can dim the eye.
Who is this? Behold him shedding
Drops of blood upon the ground!
Who is this, despised, rejected,
Mocked, insulted, beaten, bound?
’Tis our God, who gifts and graces
On His church now poureth down;
Who shall smite in righteous judgment
All His foes beneath His throne.
Who is this that hangeth dying
While the rude world scoffs and scorns,
Numbered with the malefactors,
Torn with nails, and crowned with thorns?
’Tis the God who ever liveth
‘Mid the shining ones on high,
In the glorious golden city,
Reigning everlastingly.
Why have I never heard this doctrinally-rich song before?
9 comments:
WOW! That was fabulous. Never heard of it either. Wow, we need to get back to hymnody in our churches.
-Carolyn
You don't sing hillsong as you don't approve of the church, and you don't approve of Anglicanism which is the background of this hymn, many of How's hymns are to be found in English handbooks.
O boy! O boy! O boy! It does the heart good to read such rich verse. Thank you Glenn for sharing this.
A song referring to Jesus as weak and helpless at the very beginning. I can see how many people wouldn't get to the second line.
Anonymous,
Hillsong is an aberrant and even apostate and heretical group. Not much better in my book than Mormons. Their songs are based on their CURRENT ideology.
The Anglican church was just a protestant break-off of the Papist church, and back in the days when hymn such as this were written they were quite orthodox. The fact that over the past several decades the Anglican church has gone into apostasy doesn't affect the hymns which came from them in the past, and they don't come with credits showing what church/organization they came from.
Richard,
I expect people to do as I do; hold judgment on any song until reading the entire lyrics.
I've never heard of this hymn before and listened to it on Youtube. Interesting to note that the groups and churches who sing it on YT are conservative in theology. I guess no real surprise there.
Wayne,
No surprise is right. After all, in the modern feel-good, self-focused church, this hymn would be anathema to them.
After seeing this hymn on your site, I was able to print it off and assemble the music and we sang it last Sunday, thank you!
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