Getting back to the New Living Parish Hymn Book, one of the nice things is when the editor, John de Luca, pops in with his his own work. Here he sets a text by Henry Arnold Thomas (aka Arnold Thomas) with a tune he called BYRON STREET.
This text is often sung to GONFALEN ROYAL and ETON, but de Luca does a nice job.
This is a good example of how much alteration is going on with these texts and how it makes finding hymns from their first line difficult.
Hymnary has the words from Complete Anglican Hymns Old and New, although the first line was apparently originally written as “Brother, who on Thy heart didst bear” :
1 Lord Christ, who on thy heart didst bear
the burden of our shame and sin,
and now on high dost stoop to share
the fight without, the fear within:2 Thy patience cannot know defeat,
thy pity will not be denied,
thy loving-kindness still is great,
thy tender mercies still abide.3 O brother Man, for this we pray,
thou brother Man and sovereign Lord,
that we thy brethren, day by day
may follow thee and keep thy word.4 That we may care, as thou hast cared,
for sick and lame, for deaf and blind,
and freely share, as thou hast shared,
in all the woes of humankind.5 That ours may be the holy task
to help and bless, to heal and save;
this is the happiness we ask,
and this the service that we crave.
The Australian Hymn Book goes back to something like the original opening line, but modernises the words otherwise and has:
1 Brother, you on your heart did bear
the burden of our shame and sin,
and even now you stoop to share
the fight without, the fear within;2 Your patience cannot know defeat,
your pity will not be denied,
your loving-kindness is so sweet,
your tender mercies are so wide.3 Our brother Man, for this we pray,
our brother Man and sovereign Lord,
that we, your people, day by day
may follow you and keep your word.4 That we may care, as you have cared,
for sick and lame and maimed and blind,
and freely share, as you have shared,
in all the woe of all mankind.5 So in your mercy make us wise,
and lead us in the ways of love,
until, at last, our wondering eyes
look on your glorious face above.
It looks like de Luca took that version and added a little “alt” of his own, but unfortunately didn’t fix the bad work on the second verse:
1 Jesus our brother, you did bear
the burden of our shame and sin,
and even now you stoop to share
the fight without, the fear within;2 Your patience cannot know defeat,
your pity will not be denied,
your loving-kindness is so sweet,
your tender mercies are so wide.3 Our brother Man, for this we pray,
our brother Man and sovereign Lord,
that we, your people, day by day
may follow you and keep your word.4 Make us to care, as you have cared,
for sick and lame and maimed and blind,
and freely share, as you have shared,
in all the woe of all mankind.5 So in your mercy make us wise,
and lead us in the ways of love,
until, at last, our wondering eyes
look on your glorious face above.
So that’s four different opening lines at least – there oughta be a law against it.